ROBOT RODEO
At Sandia Labs, bomb squads test their skills in real-world scenarios
Professional bomb squads from across the Southwestern U.S. brought their robots to Albuquerque this week to turn knobs, climb stairs, carry water and other tasks as part of a competition at Sandia National Laboratories.
The 11th annual Western National Robot Rodeo drew teams from four New Mexico police departments that squared off against competitors from California, Texas, Arizona and Colorado. The four-day contest will end Thursday when the three top-scoring teams will get trophies.
Each team must tackle 10 scenarios that simulate problems they might encounter in real emergencies.
“We have them do 10 things that make them better bomb tech and better robot operators,” said Jake Deuel, manager of robotic and security systems at Sandia. Some scenarios involve taking X-ray images of mysterious containers wedged into hard-to-reach places.
“It’s amazing what these bomb techs can do with these commercially available robots,” Deuel said.
One of the scenarios, devised by U.S. Army Spc. Andy Altonji of the 21st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company was a devilish task nicknamed “what a mess.”
The test requires a team to maneuver two robots around a cluttered warehouse where water is dripping from a system of leaky pipes. According to the scenario, the water is radioactive.
“The robot has to turn three knobs to shut off the water,” Altonji said as he watched the robots at work.
Once the leak is turned off, one of the robots must carry a bucket of water outside and dump it into a waste container.
Team members operated their robots from a truck located outside the building, monitoring their work by video cameras.
In a briefing afterward, Altonji awarded the team 95 points out of a possible 100. He deducted five points because the team spilled some water while carrying it outside.
“Good job, guys,” he told the team, which included Farmington police officers and airmen based at Kirtland Air Force Base. “Good job using two robots.”