Boca Police To Welcome Life-Saving Addition
Boca Raton, Fla., will soon receive a $160,000 TALON robot that defuses bombs, conducts reconnaissance, and detects hazardous material. West Palm Beach and the Town of Palm Beach will also receive robots thanks to a grant from the Southeast Regional Domestic Security Task Force.
The tracked TALON robot weighs about as much as a large dog, has mechanical arms, and can move at five miles per hour. Officers control the robot using on-board cameras and a joystick control device.
The Boca Raton Police Department bomb squad will use the robot when responding to the approximately 30 bomb-related calls it gets each year, and the department’s SWAT and HAZMAT teams will also be able to use the robot for various purposes.
Additional hardware such as microphones can be easily added to the robot for new uses, says Capt. Matthew Duggan, who leads the five-person bomb squad. The robots have been deployed by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Palm Beach Post (FL) (02/26/05) P. 1C; Valdemoro, Tania .