The U.S. Marines deployed a dozen Dragon Runners to Iraq a year ago. Developed by Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute and the United States Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) in Quantico, Va., the Dragon Runner is a small, lightweight, portable mobile reconnaissance/scout robot (or "bot"). At 15.5 inches long, 11.25 inches wide and 5 inches high, it is a tough low-lying/low-observable ground sensor.
It's designed to withstand being tossed over walls, chucked out of windows, and heaved over stairs, and then sent on its way, looking for bad guys.
A nonactive, invertible suspension and durable overall construction allow Dragon Runner to withstand a whole lot of physical abuse and continue to operate no matter how it lands.
According to Capt. Dave Moreau, project officer for Dragon Runner at the MCWL, "there's no right side up"; just throw it off the back of a moving vehicle and it‘s on its way. Dragon Runner is outfitted with a small video camera, an audio microphone, infrared illuminators (for night operations) and infrared sensors (for obstacle avoidance).
Dragon Runner's chief architect, Hagen Schempf, says "Dragon Runner is the lightest, smallest, most rugged, readily portable robot system for remote scouting operations in existence today." Schempf goes on to say that "it has the potential to be the eyes and ears of the Marines in forward urban operations, allowing them to gather intelligence without being in harm's way. “It is a tool that reduces potential lethal exposure to our troops by reducing the amount of time that they expose themselves to danger."
In today's world small is better, and the Dragon Runner is a small robot with big duties for today's military and beyond.
