| | |  Technology News | July 2008 
Anti-Immigrant 'Bot Hears Heartbeats
 David Axe - Wired
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A new $15,000 robot, built by BAE Systems, is helping the British Border Agency catch illegal immigrants. The four-wheeled "Hero" uses cameras and sensors to check out the undersides of trucks entering England through the port of Calais, according to The Telegraph.
The robot can ... be fitted with heartbeat detectors as well as sensors to identify chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear materials being smuggled into Britain. News of the device comes only days after a group of stowaways was found after entering the country hidden on Army vehicles.
For several years now in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military has tested out a similar 'bot called Odis (pictured).
Blackpool Gazette says Hero was "born out of a concept to help protect British troops on foot patrol in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Up to 10,000 heavy goods vehicles a week go through Calais, and the crossing attracts many who will risk their lives to get to Britain. ... "It's a backbreaking, dirty and dangerous job to look under every truck and with 10,000 vehicles each week boarding ferries, it would be impossible to check them all," [a BAE official said.] |
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