Police agencies convert grants to robots.

• Position: Security beat: homeland defense briefs - Brief Article

Law enforcement agencies, using grant money from the federal government, increasingly are investing in robots to prepare for domestic threats.

"Right now the biggest law enforcement concern is getting existing technology into their hands," said Mark Barber, president of Remotec, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman. "They're just trying to get up to date, and it's been a struggle. But these customers want these vehicles."

Since the company's inception the majority of its clients have been law enforcement and domestic agencies. "The states are getting funding now, and it's getting down to the local level," he said.

"After September 11, the urgency was ratcheted up immediately," he said at a news conference. "In the U.S., speed was not that critical. If you had a bomb, it was just a pipe bomb in a mailbox you could disarm at leisure."

The military also is demanding robots to deploy to combat zones--subjecting the systems to a trial by fire in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia.

According to Cliff Hudson, project manager of the Defense Department's joint...