Border control vehicle is a Hero
A semi-autonomous ground vehicle developed by BAE Systems is being used by the UK Border Agency to patrol Calais port in search of illegal immigrants.
Born out of the concept to help protect British troops on foot patrol in Iraq and Afghanistan, the robot, codenamed Hero, is roughly the size of a briefcase with a wheel at each corner. Equipped with lights and cameras, the vehicle has been successfully checking beneath the 10,000 heavy goods vehicles, coaches and trailers that pass through the port each week on the way to the UK.
Richard Williams, civil autonomous systems director, BAE Systems, explained: “Some people will use any means to get past immigration checks, and catching them can be extremely hazardous.
“It’s a backbreaking, dirty and often dangerous job to look under every truck, and with 10,000 of the vehicles each week boarding ferries, its physically impossible for UK Border Agency staff to personally check them all.”
Immediately prior to the trials, BAE Systems worked alongside the UK Border Agency to better understand how Hero could help deal with this issue. The company incorporated a number of modifications to the vehicle to suit the UK Border Agency’s operations. Hero was then put though its paces, searching for illegal immigrants, alongside officers in the examination area, and creeping beneath the trucks waiting to board ferries.
The trials proved Hero’s capabilities and the potential of autonomous and semi-autonomous technologies which can free-up personnel from dirty and dangerous activities.
Read more on: camera, Military, Robotics, vehicle
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