AirEOD

Purpose – To present a new special explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) robot designed to operate onboard airplanes. Design/methodology/approach – The design approach adopted is multidisciplinary: mechanical and control architectures are conceived simultaneously. Modularity and lifecycle are considered. Motion and EOD tasks are controlled in tele‐operation. Findings – A new EOD robot was designed in detail and it is ready to be built. A dynamic simulator has been written and set‐up, including a virtual reality module. The simulator is used to define the control logics. Simulation results are satisfactory. The simulator can be used as a training platform for the bomb squads. Research limitations/implications – The intent to keep the cost of the robot low conditioned the selection of the materials. Only aluminium and standard composites (like carbon fibers composites) have been used. A higher degree of freedom of the arm could increase the usability of the system; to limit the cost, the degree of freedom was limited to seven. A decision support system based on an expert system interfaced with the simulator could improve the performance of the system. Practical implications – A new EOD robot will be built and commercialised soon by the industrial partner Ansaldo Ricerche. Originality/value – The EOD robots available for use inside aircrafts are discussed. A new system named AirEOD is presented, including mobile platform, dexterous arm and all related design and control issues.