ZEUS, The Ultimate Modular Robot

The three benefits of modularity

You need to deploy quickly and in small vehicles. You don’t want special dedicated vehicles, and from your Incident Control Point (ICP) you want your robot moving as quickly as possible to the threat area.

No area must be inaccessible to your robot. ZEUS is able to tackle a wide range of terrains, both indoors (such as commercial, domestic and public buildings) and outdoors. Transport links such as buses, trains and aeroplanes present no problems.

To search and render safe IEDs, you need to be able to reach up high, stretch out in front, behind and to the side. Devices could be in any orientation and you need to be able to aim disruptors easily at them, regardless of their location. Suspect devices could even be below you, hidden in culverts or under bridges.

You need to have good situational awareness whilst driving, being able to see the surrounding environment, planning your route through the terrain, avoiding areas that could present a hazard to your mission and overcoming whatever is in ZEUS’ path.

The ability to control robots in different terrains including urban is crucial to the success of any mission. ZEUS has a number of tools to ensure success. Typically, you will want to work at 100-500m.

Mission duration is a critical factor and ZEUS’ 2-4 hour mission duration delivers. You need to be confident that the battery will survive the mission and give you sufficient feedback to replace or recharge batteries before it is too late. A robot stuck in an uncleared area gives 2 problems. Loss of remote capability and also having to send an operator to retrieve it.

A robot should not just be a surveillance platform, but be able to deliver a wide range of other capabilities such as render safe tools or CBRNe techniques. ZEUS has the strength and ability to carry a considerable range of additional payload tools.

It is unknown where a suspect device could be, so you need to be ready for all scenarios. It may be necessary to work in dark, light, wet, dry, hot, cold and dusty conditions.

Rough handling, vibration, being dropped and tipping over are all potential hazards to your robot and you need to ensure that none of these ‘mechanical environments’ will damage your robot or stop your mission from being successful.

You cannot risk interference between electrical equipment and your robot. You need your robot to have high levels of immunity from other electrical equipment noise, and to have low levels of electrical emissions.

The very best equipment, as designed and produced by NIC Instruments, will always achieve the desired result as all applications are vigorously tested. To ensure that all equipment is used correctly and works consistently, NIC Instruments provides comprehensive training to ensure success when using your equipment on live tasks.

Not only do you need a system that is robust and reliable with a high level of availability during use, but you need a system that can be supported when things do go wrong. And you need to know that the support will last for the lifetime of your robot.

Great ideas will always remain great ideas unless someone can articulate them into reality. And so it is with the EOD/CBRNe community as well as any other. Your ideas, thoughts, plans and processes need translating into the tools to do the job, and this is where NIC Instruments’ true strength lies.

Safety is paramount for your operators and has been considered at all stages of ZEUS’ design.

Careful analysis of potential risks to operators have been analysed and reduced to a minimum.

General information and background about ZEUS, and NIC Instruments LTD.