By Luke Voogt
Deakin University’s OzBot Raider could make Australian soldiers more deadly, thanks to a new partnership with a high-tech engineering firm.
The “world-first robotics-driven” target would add realism to shooting practice, said Deakin robotics specialist Doctor Mick Fielding.
“Existing targets are either static, or move along short lengths of pre-installed track,” he said.
“These systems are costly and time-consuming to relocate, meaning the location and behaviour of test targets becomes familiar.”
By contrast, the OzBot Raider could be used in practically any location with minimal infrastructure, Dr Fielding said.
The unmanned target, he said, could be set up within an hour to move in any direction, rather than predictable paths
“(It’s) a cable guided system, allowing its path to be defined simply by setting the guide cable between any two points,” he said.
Combined with the target’s top speed of 40km/h, this could train soldiers to better adapt to unexpected scenarios, he said.
The Deakin University announced its partnership with RCR Integrated Systems this week.
RCR chief executive officer Doctor Paul Dalgleish said the firm had the financial, marketing and manufacturing capacity to take the system to the “defence marketplace”.
“We train and employ our own people to be highly skilled to produce world class equipment, so Oz Bot is exactly the sort or innovative product we are targeting,”
Deakin’s Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation (IISRI) displayed the OzBot this week at Australia’s Land Forces 2016 defence exhibition show in Adelaide.
The research engineers behind the system will present it to the Australian Army next month.
IISRI director Professor Saeid Nahavandi said the system could provide job opportunities with local suppliers and fabricators, with the potential to export it to allied countries.
