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Robots help Soldiers patrol Iraqi streets

Army News Service

By Sgt. Christina Rockhill

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 9, 2004) -- Soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division are using robots from the Rapid Equipping Force to help them on their patrols.

Soldiers of Company A, 91st Engineer Battalion have been using the multi-functional advanced remote control or MARC Bot on their daily patrols to sweep the streets of Baghdad for improvised explosive devices.

The MARC Bot, which resembles a large remote controlled car, has all-terrain wheels and a retractable arm with a wireless camera attached to it. The operator of the robot uses the remote control to navigate the MARC Bot closer to a possible IED. Then by watching a monitor on the controller, he can determine whether or not it is an IED.

Sgt. 1st Class Chad Carpenter, of Rapid Equipping Force, said the increased distance between the Soldier and the IED is an obvious advantage when dealing with explosives.

"It allows stand-off from IEDs, for Soldiers to go ahead and detect them, which does two things," he said. "Number one it helps save their lives in case the thing goes off, and number two, if it's not an IED it will allow them to go ahead, get it off the road and continue the mission rather than blocking [the road] off and waiting for [an explosive ordnance disposal team]." Spc. Randall Archie is the MARC Bot operator for Company A, 91 ENG, and said that the MARC Bot not only saves lives, it also saves time and embarrassment.

"It's kind of embarrassing whenever you call EOD and sit around blocking off a main road for an hour or two hours waiting for them to get out there, and then they show up and it's just a bag of trash," he said. Archie said even though his crew hasn't found any IEDs with the robot, he said it's more effective than the usual tools they use.

"It allows us to get eyes on," he said. "You can see a lot with [binoculars] and everything else, but with this you're right on it. It makes it a lot nicer."

Sweeping the streets for explosives with a robot can be a daunting task.

"It's kind of weird at first but once they get used to it they love it," Carpenter said.

Maj. Carlos Munson, the 1st Cav. Div. Rapid Equipping Force Liaison, said the $3,000 MARC Bot is operator friendly and easy to use.

"Initially [the Soldiers] are a little nervous because the robots are expensive, but once they got the tactics, techniques and procedures down for utilizing a robot, the patrols tend to be more confident and able to identify a suspect IED," he said.

Munson said they have only lost a couple of robots from explosions, but said it's better than losing a couple of Soldiers.

"In the past, a lot of Soldiers have gotten injured by walking up on suspect IEDs to check them out," he said. "This way if the IED blows up, the only thing that's hurt is the robot and we can easily replace a robot."