This is no Game

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Richard Frost | An army of robots stand ready for missions at the Joint Robotics Repair Facility at Camp Victory. These robots have undergone repairs and are now prepared to sacrifice themselves once again to protect their operators in EOD.  

05.22.2009

Story by Spc. Richard Frost 

114th Public Affairs Detachment

At first glance, the soldier seemed like he was playing a video game instead of doing his job. He sat in front of a video console with an X-Box controller in his hand. He stared at the monitor with the utmost concentration, thumbs and fingers working the buttons diligently. But what he is doing is no game.

Marine Cpl. Jose Torres, McKinney, Texas, is a technician at the Joint Robotics Repair Detachment at Camp Victory in Iraq. His job is to repair broken and damaged robots that come in from all over Iraq. These robots are used by Explosive Ordnance Detachments and engineers, to facilitate their mission.

"EOD units use them to actually interrogate and detonate improvised explosive devices and the engineers use them to identify IEDs," said Torres. "Our mission here is to provide working robots that'll put space between the units and the IEDs that are out there," he added.

The Talon, made by Foster Miller Inc., was first used by the U.S military in Bosnia for the movement and disposal of live grenades, according to the company's official Web site. They were even used after the World Trade Center attack, on Sept. 11, for search and recovery efforts.

The Packbot was first used by the U.S. military in 2002 in Afghanistan to help clear caves and bunkers, according to the company's Web site. It was again used in Iraq in 2003 during urban warfare scenarios and is still in use today.

"When they deploy them, for instance a route clearing detail, they would open the rear of the vehicles they're in and operate the robot from inside the vehicle. At that point they would deploy, go up to the IED, defuse the bomb, or destroy the bomb, which is called a 'blow in place'," Torres continued.

These route clearing details are what allow individuals to travel the roads of Iraq safely. These roads are used by coalition forces as well as their Iraqi counterparts and Iraqi civilians.

"I think this job is important because it helps keep service members in EOD from getting injured," Torres said. "We give them the opportunity to send out a robot which allows the robot to get injured instead of the soldier."

• Date Taken: 05.22.2009
• Date Posted: 05.22.2009 03:46
• Story ID: 33936