It's not every day that one dismantles a roadside bomb with a PlayStation 2 controller while snipers' bullets whiz overhead. But U.S. soldiers selected as robot technicians must do this - oftentimes without the help of a manual - immediately after arriving in Iraq.
Jake Jurmain '08 has developed software to replace this rudimentary system, creating a simpler bomb-dismantling robot control method based on hand position within a virtual "force box." Jurmain developed this technology while working at the iRobot company, which is under contract with the U.S. Defense Department, during this year's Fall and Winter terms. The U.S. military may adopt the control method that Jurmain engineered in several years.
Following the method, a soldier straps his index finger to a control device, a miniature version of the robot's claw. Four cables measure hand motion within the box, supplying a force that mimics the one felt by the robot's claw.
According to Jurmain, terrorists frequently hide in view of the bombs they plant and attempt to shoot the soldiers that send robots to dismantle the bombs. The simplified control system software allows soldiers to dismantle roadside bombs more quickly than the former system, decreasing the amount of time in which they can be attacked.
"We don't have people fiddling around in the insides of a bomb or sticking their heads around corners to get shot at; we have robots doing that," Jurmain said. "Ideally, we can have soldiers and police remotely control very highly capable robots in the field."
Currently, soldiers operate over 1,000 bomb-dismantling robots in Iraq.
Jurmain plans to pursue a career in military technologies and his goal, he said, is to take as many soldiers as possible out of the line of fire. At the same time, he recognizes the risks of having more robots on the battlefield and more humans in control centers.
"If robotics develops very much, personal risk can be greatly minimized," Jurmain said. "We need to make sure that people remember exactly how horrible war is - not for our sake, but for the sake of people we might be going to war against."
Jurmain got involved with this project through the guidance of engineering and surgery professor Joseph Rosen. Rosen helped Jurmain to get an unpaid visiting researcher position with iRobot, the first job of its kind.
For the future, Jurmain plans to work on a better bomb disruptor. One such disruptor can launch a bolt of supersonic water at a bomb, shredding the bomb enough to render it impotent.
