The Robotics Rodeo, held in Fort Hood, Texas from August 31 to September 3, was jointly hosted by the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center and III Corp. More than 30 exhibitors participated in the event and worked closely with soldiers to get a valuable feed-back from those facing maximum danger.

 

"It is exciting to see Soldiers and engineers working together toward the common goal of saving lives downrange," said General Ann E. Dunwoody, commanding general for Materiel Command of the U.S. Army. "The technology on display here will help revolutionize the way we fight wars and provide another piece of armor in our Soldiers' protective arsenal."

 

One demo featured tiny robots that a soldier could throw through a window to get an idea of the enemy inside, and for the image streams to be simultaneously beamed to entire convoys of robots that could intelligently self-control and self-adapt tactics as per the covertly revealed situation.

 

"In Iraq I used robots to investigate IEDs (improvised explosive devices), place C-4 and multiple other missions," said Sgt. Solomon McCabe, team leader, 87th Engineer Company, 8th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, U.S. Army. "I see a lot of potential in the unmanned robots and I think they will make a difference in the wars."

 

The C4 that McCabe refers to is most likely a plastic explosive called “Composition 4” that can be hard to detect with metal detectors, and most probably does not refer to the conventional IT definition of Command, Control, Communications and Computers as liberally used by the US Department of Defense. In non-defense IT terms, C4 also reportedly usually stands for Connect, Communicate, Collaborate and Continue.

 

"The intent is to save Soldiers lives. We are trying to demonstrate technology today to save Soldiers' lives tomorrow," said Lt. Col. Barry Daniels, robotics project officer at III Corps.

 

"Each technology demonstrated at this site received feedback from 20 to 30 different people ranging from Soldiers to electronic engineers," said Jeff Jaster, deputy associate director for autonomous systems at TARDEC. "This feedback was compiled and will be reviewed for future robotic operations."

Earleir at the Rodeo Robotics, American Reliance Inc. reportedly demonstrated its FLEXkit , which is a modular conceived solution that helps field operators such as defense personnel, coast guard and emergency services staff, to rapidly assemble Operator Control Units as required by just interchanging radio control modules and hard drives.