Man Transportable Robotic System (MTRS) Remote Digger and Hammer Chisel

Honeybee Robotics proposes to develop an attachment for MTRS platforms that will provide the capability to dig into hard packed soils and break up concrete. Short of using explosives, a means for uncovering IEDs concealed in hard-packed soil or concrete using a MTRS platform does not currently exist. The tool proposed here will bridge the existing technology gap by making it possible to penetrate and remove IED-concealing soil or concrete while preserving the ability to use the robot’s gripper after the IED is uncovered. This effort’s basic objective is to bring the capability of commercially available man-portable concrete breakers (e.g. “chipping guns”) to MTRS platforms in the field. Off-the-shelf tools are effective and reliable, but poorly suited to MTRS platforms due to their size, weight, power consumption and required consumables. To Therefore, Honeybee Robotics will develop an MTRS-compatible soil-digging and concrete-breaking tool that is lightweight, robust, and reliable. In Phase 1, Honeybee Robotics will conduct testing and data analysis to aid in defining requirements and system limitations and design and model an MTRS soil-digging and concrete-breaking tool.