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Stealth Patrol with ODIS

Able-bodied young people aren't the only recruits sought by the U.S. military. Robots, developed by Utah State researchers at the Army's request, are inspecting suspicious vehicles in parking lots.

At less than four inches tall, the self-propelled robot on wheels can scurry underneath parked vehicles and snoop for bombs with its video camera. The robot's efficient job performance belies its unwieldy name, the omnidirectional inspection system. But the acronym ODIS is close enough in pronunciation to Otis to stick with security personnel.

ODIS was funded by the U.S. Army in 2000, but the time line was sped up and Congressional funding added, after the September 11 attacks, when evidence surfaced of misappropriated licenses to transport hazardous materials.

A month after the attacks, the Utah State research team tested their robot against the traditional mirror-on-a-stick inspection. "Our robot won hands down," says Kevin Moore, who directs USU's Center for Self-Organizing and Intelligent Systems. "You could see every angle of the undercarriage from a remote station. The mirror showed only the edges of the undercarriage, and the human inspector had to stand next to the vehicle."

ODIS is safer than hand-held mirrors on sticks and other conventional bomb surveillance methods such as visual inspections and trained dogs. And ODIS's mobility and high-resolution images outperform static surveillance cameras.

ODIS may soon have a parent, the marsupial, desk-sized T4. The T4 would roam parking lots, deploying offspring robots to inspect suspicious vehicles. T4's automated scanner would log vehicle tab numbers. Widely used in Europe, this technology has gained popularity in the United States in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

Robots similar to ODIS were put to work in search and rescue efforts at the World Trade Center. But the robots were plagued by the same problems as human and canine searchers - choking dust and falling debris. With modifications they could prove effective in search and rescue operations.

The ODIS robots have already demonstrated their value for vehicle surveillance. Moore's colleague Carl Wood says that when they approach a vehicle, they plan their own path of inspection. "They are neither remote-controlled nor pre-programmed. They actually think for themselves."

Do they talk like Star War's R2-D2?

In the war on terrorism, that trait is unnecessary, even counter-productive.

-Mary-Ann Muffoletto