The U.S. Air Force has successfully integrated quad-legged Unmanned Ground Vehicles, known popularly as “robot dogs,” and this innovative idea may be a new way to secure facilities and protect travelers at civilian airports. According to a recent armed services news release, the first official quad-legged Unmanned Ground Vehicles were delivered to Tyndall Air Base on March 22nd.
The purpose of the Quad-legged Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Q-UGVs) is to add an extra level of protection to the base. The robot dogs, designed by Ghost Robotics and Immersive Wisdom, are the first of their kind to be integrated onto a military installation and one of many innovation-based initiatives to begin at Tyndall, coined the Installation of the Future.
“As a mobile sensor platform, the Q-UGVs will significantly increase situational awareness for defenders,” said Mark Shackley, Tyndall Program Management Office security forces program manager. “They can patrol the remote areas of a base, or any sprawling air facility, while human security covers the most sensitive areas of an installation.”
Features applied to the robot dogs allow for easy navigation on difficult terrains. The robot dogs can operate in minus 40-degree to 131-degree conditions and have 14 sensors to create 360-degree awareness. They are also equipped with a crouch mode that lowers their center-of-gravity and a high-step mode that alters leg mobility, among other features.
This new technology has the capability to revolutionize the way air facilities operate.
