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To: Ramius
We've got some variants of that that we're playing with. They have rocket and grenade launchers on them too. :-)

Well, that'll raise the ticket price a bit, I reckon... ;~)

6,892 posted on 02/21/2007 7:34:05 PM PST by HairOfTheDog
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To: HairOfTheDog

Not so much, really. :-)

The whole mission of the robots program was to make the things out of easily replaceable COTS (commercial, off-the-shelf) parts. That way... the guys can walk into any Radio Shack or whatnot around the world and get new parts.

The batteries, for example, are just un-altered DeWalt 18V battery packs. Both the batteries and the chargers are easy to find anywhere in the world. The field charger system is just a Honda Generator with a bunch of outlets.

Even the tracks for the wheels, the wheels themselves, and whatever parts.... almost all of them can be found in the standard Radio Shack inventory.

It sounds funny, but we've had the guys in Afghanistan running downtown to the Khandahar Radio Shack to replace parts on some of the stuff. or... to try a new design from the parts they could find there.

It's neat stuff. And it is paying off every day.


6,895 posted on 02/21/2007 7:54:50 PM PST by Ramius ([sip])
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To: HairOfTheDog

Of course, my ignorant reaction in the meeting was:

"There's a radio shack in Khandahar?? Holy Crap!"

:-)


6,896 posted on 02/21/2007 8:13:07 PM PST by Ramius ([sip])
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