Robot-makers ponder next moves as wars wind down.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

Among the trucks, fighting vehicles, helicopters, guns and other equipment moved out of Iraq by the end of December were hundreds of ground robots.

The end of the nearly nine-year war closed one chapter for a technology that came into its own during the conflict. As improvised explosive devices became a scourge and leading killer of coalition forces and civilians, the military rushed into the theater explosive ordnance disposal robots that proved to be invaluable lifesaving tools.

But what's next?

The technology is still being used in Afghanistan, although that conflict is scheduled to wind down in the next few years.

Executives at the three major suppliers of military robots--iRohot, QinetiQ North America and Remotec--believe that there are still opportunities out there despite the anticipated drawdown, a lack of permanent programs and a Defense Department budget outlook that many have called "grim."

"There continues to be worldwide demand for this capability," said Ed Godere, senior vice president for unmanned systems at QinetiQ. "As we see things winding down in Iraq and Afghanistan, the use of IEDs as the weapon of choice by insurgents around the world is becoming more prevalent."

There are other applications besides route clearance and explosive ordnance disposal, robotics executives told National Defense. In the civilian world, hazardous-material disposal and police special weapons and tactics operations along with perimeter security are a few. In the defense realm, reconnaissance and logistics robots are other ways in which they are being used.

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The problem is that there are currently few programs of record.

The Navy, the executive agent in charge of developing and procuring bomb disposal robots for all four services, prior to the Iraq War had fielded one large EOD robot: the remote ordnance neutralization system or RONS, which was developed in the 1990s by Remotec, now a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman. These are 700-pound-plus machines that were mostly envisioned for base security and needed to be towed by a vehicle. The Navy had acquired 270 of them, and upgrades were made during the Iraq war. Their size made them ideal for removing large objects such as artillery shells from the field.

As roadside bombs became the Iraqi insurgents' weapon of choice, EOD teams sent out urgent requests for robots that were lighter and could be transported in the back of a Humvee. Three companies quickly responded with off-the-shelf machines: iRobot...