Full Transcript:

Carey Butler: My name is Carey Butler and I am the robotics program manager for the West Virginia High Technology Consortium foundation and also a management responsibility for innovative response technologies which makes BomBot 2.

Benjamin Higginbotham: I am excited because robots are cool, first off and so this is going to be an interesting interview. Tell us a little bit about what you guys do?

Carey Butler: At IRT we manufacture small mobile robotic systems for the military and civilian applications. So, we started out with the product called the BomBot, which is used by our military in Iraq and Afghanistan to address the improvised explosive device problem. So, tell your operative robot a lot like a small mobile RC car that can go to a suspected IED take video of it and if necessary deliver a counter charge to neutralize the IED and it is expendable, so we are able to make a large number of them and enable a lot of units be able to have them readily available.

Benjamin Higginbotham: You are rolling blow up the robot instead of the people, kind of the idea?

Carey Butler: Yeah, this is exactly the idea.

Benjamin Higginbotham: You have got another next generation BomBot coming out, is that going to be considered next generation BomBot or it is next…?

Carey Butler: Yeah, the product that we have now for commercial purchase is called the BomBot2 and it targets the Law Enforcement and first responder community. The system is designed to run a lot longer than a original BomBot and it has more applications, so it provides rapid situational awareness, remote response and user support, operator support when they are out in the field for Bomb Squad, SWAT Teams, Hazmat Teams, Fire and Rescue and Corrections Officers.

Benjamin Higginbotham: You also had, it is a more modular system, is it not?

Carey Butler: Yes.

Benjamin Higginbotham: So you can swap in components?

Carey Butler: That’s exactly right. The original BomBot just had a video payload delivery basket with the BomBot 2, we now have a detachable top plate and electrical and data embilical to it so that we can switch that out with other sensors like chemical sensors, nuclear sensors, infrared imaging devices that fire and rescue use to identify people in hazardous situations and also non lethal weapons like a pepper ball gun, tear gas and those kinds of things, so we can deploy those with the robot system now.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Now, I really enjoy the idea of the pepper ball gun and taking that on a paint ball field and could I attach another BomBot 2, a actual Paintball gun?

Carey Butler: Oh, yeah.

Benjamin Higginbotham: I could?

Carey Butler: Yes you could.

Benjamin Higginbotham: So, could I as a consumer buy a BomBot 2 and then bring it, or this a military only or a law enforcement only type device?

Carey Butler: Our sales are targeted to military and commercial professional users.

Benjamin Higginbotham: OK, what if I had a lot of money?

Carey Butler: I'm sure we work something out.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Because I really, really wanted to take one of these just drive and go “bam, bam, bam”, they make some great video.

Carey Butler: The only area where I am not able to deliver this to the private consumer market is the radio system is only authorized for law enforcement, first responder personal and for the military.

Benjamin Higginbotham: Oh, that’s interesting, so….

Carey Butler: Yeah and it is just a power level.

Benjamin Higginbotham: So, it must be very powerful. So, what is the distance you can go between the transmitter and the receiver then?

Carey Butler: We can operate the system at the 1,000 to 1,500 feet, but it is still restricted to line of site at this Wi-Fi device and it works pretty well with this controller made by a company called NOMADIO that makes the controller used by the world class hobby racers, so it is a very good system parts.

Benjamin Higginbotham: So, I have got my controller, I have got my BomBot and I have got my camera and my lights on it and everything I've got all my modules, how do I receive that video, it is the video line of sight as well, does it go over the same connection?

Carey Butler: It is actually two radio systems on it, one for the commander control and one for the video and they are both Wi-Fi enabled.

Benjamin Higginbotham: But, they're both line of sight, what if I got like a wall, I need to get around that wall, what happens is just stop there dead in it's tracks…

Carey Butler: It actually does, it is restricted line of sight, here is what we are doing about that, we have that technology in development, it is called the WEUHF - Wireless Ethernet at UHF where we are able to downshift a 2.4 gigahertz signal to 435 megahertz, which gives you kilometers of range. So, you can plug a Wi-Fi device into it and communicate over the long distance at 435 megahertz which is a band for emergency applications and then it will shift to back to 2.4 gigahertz, will be able to use on the other end. So that’s a module we are actually testing in the field now to be able to communicate over a longer ranges through buildings, through forests, out of the line of sight.

Benjamin Higginbotham: And will that be part of BomBot 2 or would that be an option for BomBot 2?

Carey Butler: It would likely be an option for BomBot 2 as soon as we get it developed and productized we will have a controller upgrade to be able to adapt the 435 megahertz.