June 24, 2005: Yet another combat robot is on the market. An Israeli firm has developed a baseball sized wireless camera that can be thrown into a building, cave or whatever. The "Eye Ball R1" then scans it's surroundings at the rate of four times a minute and transmits what it sees, up to 200 meters, to an operator using a specially equipped PDA to see, and hear, what's in there. The R1 can also be manually placed anywhere, to provide an extra set of eyes. The "Eye Ball" is rugged, and designed to survive hitting a hard surface, and promptly begin scanning and transmitting. The device was developed with police and commandoes in mind, but any infantryman would find it useful. Each Eye Ball R1 costs $1,500. Sales are only made to government agencies, not individuals. |