Throwable EyeBall R1 Surveillance Robot

Posted Aug 20, 2009 2:08 AM

We mentioned a little robotic eyeball in yesterday's post about the ODF EyeDrive surveillance robot, and eagle-eyed readers who sat through the whole video might have noticed in the very last scene that the EyeDrive robot drops a little round ball. ODF also makes a passive surveillance robot called the EyeBall R1, which is a little round bot about the size of a baseball that's designed to be rolled or thrown into areas where you need some recon.

The EyeBall is designed to bounce around a little bit and then self-right itself on a flat base. Once it does, it rotates every 15 seconds, sending back streaming video and audio. You can pan the EyeBall manually as well as zoom in, and it's got IR LEDs for night vision. EyeBalls are cheap, at only about $5k for two balls and a control system, and you can even accessorize them little camo jackets or a disguise to make the EyeBall look like a rock. Cute!

As nifty as this little robot is, is does have some substantial drawbacks, as Danger Room reported last month. What tends to happen is that the robot gets thrown into, say, a room, and it ends up rolling underneath a piece of furniture and is rendered useless. Plus, people tend to notice something the size of a baseball come sailing in through a window, and as Danger Room's source points out, you might as well "just throw a flash-bang, instead."

Demand for this type of robot (something small, cheap, and tossable) is increasing, seemingly moreso than for larger, more capable robots like PackBots... At AUVSI last week, the Marine Corps announced that they're in the market for a throwable surveillance robot for day and night reconnaissance. It's easy to understand why: most of the time, all you really need an unmanned system for is getting that first look around an unknown and potentially dangerous area, and the ideal robot for that task is something simple, portable, and expendable that anyone can put into action quickly and reliably.

[ ODF EyeBall R1 ]

Image via Defense Update\