Author Topic: A soldier's robotic response to Kandahar's deadly threat (Read 6008 times)

PMedMoe · « **on:** March 17, 2009, 08:52:09 »

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GLORIA GALLOWAY

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

March 17, 2009 at 3:57 AM EDT

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Simon Engler is a restless scientist whose desire for military action may ultimately save the lives of Canadians in Afghanistan.

Sapper Engler studied astrophysics and mathematics at St. Mary's University in Nova Scotia and computational physics in the University of Amsterdam prior to joining the military.

But "[I was] sitting behind a computer when there was a war going on. So I said, 'Hey, I will just join up for a few years and get to play soldier and maybe see war and come back,' " he said last week during an interview in the technology-filled crate on the Kandahar Air Field that serves as his part-time office.

Sapper Engler, a 31-year-old Calgary man, found himself driving with his fellow soldiers in armoured vehicles over the dusty roads of Kandahar, where every bump could trigger an explosive device. He also found that, while military life offered its share of excitement, he was bored when he was away from his computers for too long.

Blessed with both smarts and a healthy sense of self preservation, Sapper Engler decided even before coming to the war zone, that he needed to make the trips less dangerous. He set out to create a robot that, when perfected, will be able to roll over the Afghan terrain and look for objects planted by the enemy.

"Every day that we go out, I have to get out of the vehicle and walk to an object and make sure it's not dangerous and then come back in," he explained.

"I thought, if we have something simple to go up and look for us, we don't have to get out of the vehicle and we can still assess the situation. So I came up with this design and built it over the past six months."

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a Sig Op · « **Reply #1 on:** March 17, 2009, 09:10:56 »

Good on 'im! If there's one thing I've always preached to my troops... "If there's a problem, don't sit around and complain about it, fix it!"

milnews.ca · « **Reply #2 on:** March 17, 2009, 10:13:40 »

Also good to see some of his education & experience put to good use, even at the sapper level - well done!

Baden Guy · « **Reply #3 on:** March 17, 2009, 10:17:21 »

Quote from: Just a Sig Op on March 17, 2009, 09:10:56

Good on 'im! If there's one thing I've always preached to my troops... "If there's a problem, don't sit around and complain about it, fix it!"

Particularly those with :
Sapper Engler studied astrophysics and mathematics at St. Mary's University in Nova Scotia and computational physics in the University of Amsterdam prior to joining the military.

mover1 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 17, 2009, 10:47:40 »

Quote from: milnews.ca on March 17, 2009, 10:13:40

Also good to see some of his education & experience put to good use, even at the sapper level - well done!

Even at the sapper level huh....I forgot that we should dismiss people due to their rank and stature.
Along the same lines... there was a feature in this months Airforce Magazine about a Leading Aircraftsman (LAC Lionel McCaffery) He made a full size working replica of the Silver Dart. THe same one which is now in the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa.

Baden Guy · « **Reply #5 on:** March 17, 2009, 10:58:06 »

Ya but that was back in the day when LAC was a somebody and a Cpl was close to God.

Being probably the only one here who was an LAC.

Nauticus · « **Reply #6 on:** March 17, 2009, 11:04:47 »

Quote from: mover1 on March 17, 2009, 10:47:40

Even at the sapper level huh....I forgot that we should dismiss people due to their rank and stature.
Along the same lines... there was a feature in this months Airforce Magazine about a Leading Aircraftsman (LAC Lionel McCaffery) He made a full size working replica of the Silver Dart. THe same one which is now in the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa.

I think the first part of his post was a joke. Don't be so uptight.

milnews.ca · « **Reply #7 on:** March 17, 2009, 11:24:01 »

Quote from: milnews.ca on March 17, 2009, 10:13:40

Also good to see some of his education & experience put to good use, even at the sapper level - well done!

Just to clarify - I really AM hugely impressed with someone with this level of education being able to apply it directly to help the troops at he pointy end. No insult intended...

Quote from: Baden Guy on March 17, 2009, 10:58:06

Ya but that was back in the day when LAC was a somebody and a Cpl was close to God.

From the days of, as the little stone monument at the Air Force museum in Trenton puts it, "Flight sergeant - from distinction to extinction," right?

KingKikapu · « **Reply #8 on:** March 17, 2009, 19:48:57 »

Cool little gizmo. Very impressive.

gun runner · « **Reply #9 on:** March 23, 2009, 16:53:40 »

It doesn't look too robust for the terrain that I have noticed in Afghanistan. The terrain is more rocky and uneven, this gadget looks like a toy car, built for sand lots, not to hunt for IED's in the back woods of the sandbox. Ubique

benny88 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 23, 2009, 17:06:10 »

Based on the title of the thread I thought it was going to be a story about someone who came under contact, pointed his rifle, and said "Bang, bang."
Good on ya, Sapper.

M Feetham · « **Reply #11 on:** March 23, 2009, 17:40:06 »

I think it is outstanding to see someone take an active part in trying to preserve not only his life but those of his wingers as well. It's also nice to see that not everyone with a university education only want to be an officer. Not saying that there aren't troops and nco's out there who have gone on to higher learning, but usually kids these days go the officer route to get the free edumacation. You know what I mean? +1 for the sapper.

Pieman · « **Reply #12 on:** September 04, 2009, 07:23:44 »

TV Interview here.

CountDC · « **Reply #13 on:** September 09, 2009, 10:11:07 »

Quote from: gun runner on March 23, 2009, 16:53:40

It doesn't look too robust for the terrain that I have noticed in Afghanistan. The terrain is more rocky and uneven, this gadget looks like a toy car, built for sand lots, not to hunt for IED's in the back woods of the sandbox. Ubique

I think the intent is that instead of someone getting out of the vehicle to check something on/beside the road they could send this little fella instead. That would be assuming that if the road is good enough for them to drive on then a little remote car could travel a short distance on it. Looks good in the TV interview.

Pieman · « **Reply #14 on:** November 14, 2010, 12:16:58 »

For those interested, the Prairie Dog is now on display at the Military Museum in Calgary.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n287/phasespace/PrairieDogMuseum_small.jpg

gun runner · « **Reply #15 on:** November 14, 2010, 15:38:40 »

You would think if it worked out that well they would leave it in theatre and train other troops in its use..not placed in a museum where it does no one but the public any benefit. My

. Ubique

Pieman · « **Reply #16 on:** November 14, 2010, 16:10:37 »

It was the first prototype, and finished testing so it was not going to be used anymore.

gun runner · « **Reply #17 on:** November 14, 2010, 16:36:32 »

Ok, great! Thanks for the info. Cheers!

Pieman · « **Reply #18 on:** December 10, 2010, 21:03:37 »

Display has been updated with display showing videos and pictures:

dogger1936 · « **Reply #19 on:** December 10, 2010, 23:21:03 »

Aside from this sapper's brilliance....I love the controller idea! I would date myself if I decided to try and guess which gaming system it was from but that is EXCELLENT! Kid would wanna be playing with this thing at the fob in their offtime. Honing their skills (I'm sure games would ensue until one got broken).

Fantastic stuff. While all I heard were guys complaining about getting out and checking something he realised the level of suck and developed something to make his life suck less.

CHIMO!

Tommy · « **Reply #20 on:** December 11, 2010, 02:16:51 »

Brilliant!

I love the use of a Playstation 2 Controller... young folk would probably have very little trouble adapting to using it!

Capt. Happy · « **Reply #21 on:** December 11, 2010, 08:24:05 »

While in theatre, I had the opportunity to set up some training to see if this little ROV would be effective in what it was designed for. It is definitely a neat piece of kit, and a great use of his university skills to help with a very dangerous threat.

That being said, I think there are some misconceptions in this thread about this being used to replace soldiers conducting searches. Without getting into a heated debate or SOPs, nothing replaces the Mk 1 eyeball to visually check areas being VPS'd and even though it sucks, this ROV would have been a tool in the proverbial "toolbox" to aid - but not replace - soldiers conducting searches.

Before the dogpiling starts and the "how the **** do you know" bit kicks in, I reference the number of incidents that happen almost daily in-theatre where areas are physically searched and declared clear, but something was found immediately after. Speaking as someone who has the good fortune to have an ROV in my permanent toolbox, and understands without a doubt what an outstanding tool it is, I can count on one hand how many times I didn't find something on the X that was different from what I saw in the screen before I went downrange.

We're not at the point technology-wise yet to completely take the soldier out of the search, but from what I saw while in theatre, this Spr's initiative and outside-the-box thinking may just have been the push to get things rolling in that direction

Edit for wording.

muskrat89 · « **Reply #22 on:** December 11, 2010, 09:57:51 »

Quote

I think there are some serious misconceptions in this thread about this being used to replace soldiers conducting searches.

Where do you get that? I went back through and most of the comments are congratulatory in nature. I didn't read anyone prattling on about replacing troops with gizmos

Capt. Happy · « **Reply #23 on:** December 11, 2010, 10:43:38 »

Quote from: muskrat89 on December 11, 2010, 09:57:51

Where do you get that? I went back through and most of the comments are congratulatory in nature. I didn't read anyone prattling on about replacing troops with gizmos

There were several comments, including from Spr Engler himself, of using his ROV instead of soldiers. I'm not dinging the well-deserved congratulatory posts, but rather providing some insight. Something I didn't mention, but the comments in theatre about this machine being mass produced and replacing boots on the ground searching also contributed to my post.

MPgonnabe · « **Reply #24 on:** December 11, 2010, 10:59:52 »

Initiative like this saves lives. This is a great story, and congratulations are in order for a spot-on soldier.

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Author Topic: A soldier's robotic response to Kandahar's deadly threat (Read 6008 times)