The iRobot R-Gator is an unmanned robotic platform from iRobot Corporation and

John Deere Deere & Company, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, transmissions, gearboxes) used in heavy equipment, ...

. The robot is built upon Deere's M-Gator currently in use by the US Military. The R-Gator can operate autonomously, performing perimeter patrol and other missions while keeping personnel out of harm's way. It can operate autonomously by following a map or choosing its own waypoints to reach a pre-determined destination. It can also do "follow the leader" operations to keep up with troops, be tele-operated, or driven manually if needed. In military exercises, the R-Gator has shown an ability to carry gear for soldiers to lighten their loads. It also demonstrated its capacity to carry and drop off

explosive ordnance disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the militar ...

robots weighing more than . An R-Gator could deploy the smaller machine and provide unmanned perimeter security while the EOD robot dismantles the bomb. The first R-Gator sale to the military was to the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWARSYSCOM), based in San Diego, is one of six SYSCOM Echelon II organizations within the United States Navy and is the Navy's technical authority and acquisition command for C4ISR (Command, Contr ...

for autonomous perimeter security.Robotic Mule Vendors Seek Opportunities Outside Military
- Nationaldefensemagazine.org, July 2013

References

External links

Gizmag article

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irobot R-Gator Unmanned ground vehicles IRobot John Deere vehicles