Israeli startup Roboteam, which is developing unmanned ground vehicles, or in other words a type of robot soldier, has unveiled three new developments that it has been working on in recent years.
The first development is the MTGR system, a lightweight combat proven tactical robot, which can even climb stairs and has arms to deal with suspicious objects. MTGR is designed for patrol missions and intelligence gathering, can deal with bombs and can help protect soldiers fighting in an urban environment.
The system significantly reduces risk to soldiers in the battlefield and enhances their ability to carry out complex and precise missions. The uniqueness of the system is high movement capability and ability to negotiate obstacles in difficult terrain while it can also gather and document intelligence using eight wide-lens cameras and a microphone. All this is operate intuitively so that required training is very short with options for adding sensors for special missions and resilience to survive the necessary environmental conditions during intensive operations. The system is being used by various Israel Defense Forces units, the US army, police units and many other armies worldwide and their deployment will be expanded enormously during 2017.
The second development is the IRIS - a very lightweight (1.8 kilograms) robot which can be used as the "eyes and ears" of a combat squad to gather intelligence in urban areas. The robot can be thrown three meters and has cameras that can scan acute angles, a sensitive microphone and an operations unit mounted on a standard computer tablet. The system is currently serving special police units and selected IDF units as well as security forces worldwide.
The third development is the second generation PRoBOT. This is a versatile, all-terrain carrier and reconnaissance robot that can carry up to 750 kilograms. This means soldiers need carry less equipment while the robot can carry the injured away from the dangers of the battlefield. The robot can also carry out reconnaissance missions and patrols over large distances. ProBOT has semi-autonomous systems allowing it to track people or other platforms and in the coming months it will enter service in the Israeli army and revolutionize battlefield logistics for infantry and engineering brigades.
Tel Aviv based Roboteam, which was founded in December 2009 by Yossi Wolf and CEO Elad Levy recently raised $50 million at a company value of $200 million from the Generali Fund and a group of Singapore investors.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 22, 2016
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