Northrop Grumman has licenced construction for the rugged EyeDrive "throwbot" designed by ODF Optronics of Tel Aviv, Israel.
The 8lb EyeDrive - demonstrated at the 5th Biennial Unmanned Systems Demonstration on 10 August - will now be manufactured in Clinton, Tennessee, where the US-based wing of Northrop Grumman subsidiary Remotec builds other ground vehicles, including the anti-explosive Andros robot. Northrop Grumman will also handle North American distribution for the EyeDrive, says Patrick Goode, business development manager for Remotec.
"They weren't set up to do high-volume manufacturing," he says of ODF. Remotec is setting up a new construction line for the vehicle separate from its Andros lines.
EyeDrive is controlled by a remote touchscreen using ODF's trademarked "Point 'n Go" navigation, which allows a user to touch a location on the screen to direct the robot, rather than actually driving it. It carries four fixed cameras and one zoom lens and can operate for about 3h on its lithium-ion battery. It is designed to be hand-carried into hazardous areas, thrown to where it is needed and guided from there using either wheels or soft tracks.
The vehicle is one of a small family of networked systems developed by ODF. Goode says Remotec is making changes to the vehicle - moving from an analog radio to a digital one and developing new payloads - and there could be more co-operation with ODF in the future.
"If this works out, we probably anticipate working on some other systems," he says.
Source: Flight Daily News
