The ball which sees it all
It rolls with 30 km/h and floats with 6 km/h. It can turn 360 degrees and it sees everything around it. Detecting explosives is its specialty. And if necessary it can blow up itself. We are meeting a new high standard technological device that will save lives. But about which one am I talking about exactly?
The GuardBot
This thing is called the Guardbot, a robot ball with detecting sensors and cameras on the sides. Peter Muhlrad has worked on this thing. The military forces will be very happy with this robot. It can go on an observation without being manned. With a remote, the GuardBot is driven from a distance of 1,5 kilometers. The GuardBot can be as big as a human, so it can go on an observation mission. But they can also make a Bot with the size of a tennis ball, so it can be an explosive to surprise the enemy.
His technological brothers
Unmanned devices are an upcoming thing. Besides the GuardBot one is known with the Drones, unmanned little airplanes. But there are also Copsquads – a match between a helicopter and a quad – which are used frequently. These devices can give the military extra manpower, a better internet connection… But there is a dark side. The controlable world, that's the trends in which these robots are developing.
The privacy aspect
But there is a negative side. These devices play with the privacy aspect. The military drones for instance, terrify people in Pakistan because of flying above their heads 24 hours a day. And the GuardBot can map out all of its surroundings. This makes that local civilians lose their privacy with these measuring, observing and controlling abilities of these technological robots.
The future
But with rules, these problems can be solved I think. And overall, the GuardBot and his technological brothers are the future. Unmanned mines reamers, followed by transport vehicles with no driver. 'The convoy of the future'. Lives will be saved because of these beautiful devices. Therefore, their growth potential is so big. In the ten years a head of us the invests on these devices will be doubling, to 1,5 billion euros.
They will be defusing boms, fly above militaries to provide them from a better phone and internet connecting and they will map out the environment in war overloaded places like Syria and Pakistan. They are the helping hand of the Future. But it’s not weird at all, because our whole society will be a more robot filled society soon.
Sources:
Brabant Dagblad, a Dutch newspaper
