Harris Provides EOD Robots to British Army.

• Author: Lee, Connie
• Position: News Briefs

Harris Corp. is providing the U.K. Ministry of Defence with a multi-mission explosive ordnance disposal robotic system.

Paul Bosscher, chief engineer for robotic systems at Harris, said the company began delivering the T7 at the end of 2018 through the Project STARTER program. The effort is being run under the Defense Ministry's special projects and search countermeasures team. Harris is providing systems under a contract worth up to $70 million, with initial operational capability projected for fall 2019.

Bosscher said the T7 has a pistol grip that allows the user to control the robot.

"You'll hold that pistol grip and you'll just move that the way you would move your hand if the [robot] was your hand," he said. "You don't need to worry about... the complexity of the machine that you're trying to control. You're just saying, 'How would I naturally do this job by hand?'"

The system also has electronic jamming equipment to counter threats that may be set off remotely through radios, he said. Many other robots are not robust enough to provide this kind of capability, he noted.

The platform has a weight of 710 pounds, a maximum speed...