No one wants to get near chemical or biological weapons, which is why the U.S. Army is testing a robotic Autonomous Equipment Decontamination System that can decontaminate military vehicles exposed to such harmful substances without putting soldiers at risk.
Nuclear, chemical and biological (NBC) weapons are so fearsome that chemical and biological weapons have not been used on a strategic scale since World War I, and no nuclear weapons have been used since 1945. From the perspective of the great powers, such weapons exist primarily as a deterrent to prevent their use by others.
But such weapons do exist – even if they don’t need to exist. They have been used by rogue powers like Iraq and Syria, and there’s always the danger that they could be used in conflicts of almost the same level, like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is why NATO, for example, constantly conducts counter-NBC exercises. These include decontaminating personnel, vehicles and equipment that have been exposed to radioactive fallout or chemical and biological weapons.
AEDs
This is no easy task. Chemical and biological agents are extremely dangerous and even a very small amount measured in milligrams can be fatal. This means that decontamination procedures must be precise and thorough.
Unfortunately, it is also time-consuming and very dangerous for the soldiers involved in the operations. It can take up to 30 soldiers 60 minutes to complete the decontamination of a single vehicle, and they have to do it in special coveralls and masks called NBC suits, worn over their normal work clothes.
These are theoretically designed for soldiers to wear for days if they need to, but I tried the relatively comfortable British Army version and the idea of wearing one of these for hours, doing a decontamination exercise and breathing through a gas mask, is as uncomfortable as it sounds. Worse still, this often has to be done on the front line when very unfeeling people are shooting at you.
US army
To fix that, the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Chemical Biological Center is developing the Autonomous Equipment Decontamination System, a mobile robot cleaner that does the dirty work of decontamination while soldiers stay out of harm’s way.
The system uses cameras mounted on a mobile platform that move around the contaminated vehicle and identify hot spots. It then washes the vehicle using a special cleaning slurry that it distributes using a manipulator arm. Using a robot, this not only protects soldiers but also preserves decontaminants, which, like everything else, are likely to be in short supply on the front lines.
At the Maneuver Support and Protection Integration Experiments (MSPIX) event held last May at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, four soldiers from the Army’s 1st Armored Division were tasked with spending four days testing the system and providing feedback to improve the user interface. This included how to best control the robot as it maneuvers around the vehicle, how to best improve the controls and noting the importance of manually overriding the robotic arm to ensure the vehicle is properly decontaminated.
“This system completely removes us from the threat and the buttons and controls are easy to use,” said Specialist Yaleidi Escalera. “We are the ones who will be using it in combat, so it feels good to be able to tell the technology developers exactly what we need right now.”
Source: US Army