The integration of unmanned systems into crime is already here, and we have to ask ourselves how criminals and terrorists might use drones and robots some years from now.
Just as the internet and smartphones presented significant opportunities as well as challenges, so will this technology. Our new report by Europol’s Innovation Lab explores the future operating environment for European law enforcement agencies and suggests actions needed today in order to effectively combat crime while upholding public trust and fundamental rights tomorrow. One chapter of the report highlights the role of war as a driver for innovation in unmanned systems.
Read more…
Source: Europol
Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Massachusetts: Robotic police dog shot multiple times, helped avoid bloodshed
March 28, 2024
Roscoe, a robotic dog, is being thanked by state police in Massachusetts for helping avert a tragedy involving a person barricaded in a home. The robot dog was part of the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad and deployed on March 6 in a Barnstable house after police were fired upon. Police sent in two other robots ...
- EOD technicians support US Army recruiting at robotics competition in West Virginia
February 21, 2024
Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians supported U.S. Army recruiters during a middle and high school robotics competition in Wheeling, West Virginia. Soldiers from the 754th Ordnance Company (EOD) demonstrated the tools of their profession to students at the Wheeling Robotics Competition. Staff Sgt. Andrew Gettle from Lebanon, Pennsylvania; Pfc. Calvin Battaglia from West Chester, Pennsylvania; and Pfc. ...
- ERDC supports integration of robotic and autonomous technologies
January 18, 2024
The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) played a significant role in a recent event geared toward introducing innovative methods of protecting Soldiers during ground combat. The XVIII Airborne Corps and 20th Engineer Brigade organized and hosted the Sandhills Future Breaching Experiment at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, in December 2023, to discuss integrating robotic ...
- Robot dogs protect lives through innovation
December 21, 2023
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. — “These robot dogs not only have the potential to save Airmen’s lives, but they also serve as a reminder of how valuable your voice is, regardless of rank.” Master Sgt. Dominic Garcia, the emergency management flight chief from the 2nd Civil Engineer Squadron, devised the concept of robot dogs and ...
- B-Roll Sandhills Project: 20th Engineer Brigade and industry partners test autonomous breaching capabilities
December 14, 2023
The Sandhills Project is an experiment to deliver robotic, autonomized breaching solutions to large-scale combat operations, Fort Liberty, N.C., Dec. 14, 2023. Current conflicts indicate that US forces may encounter extensive obstacle efforts several kilometers in depth on future battlefields. Future breaching requires greater speed and flexibility to rapidly maneuver through obstacles, leveraging lower cost equipment, ...
- Can robot dogs programmed with AI find hidden explosive devices?
November 16, 2023
Forty programmers demonstrated how AI-enabled robotic dogs could carry out potentially dangerous tasks that would otherwise be undertaken by Army bomb disposal experts at the Defence AI Centre (DAIC) sponsored Hackathon on 7-9 November. The hackers worked in five teams to exploit the AI capabilities of the robotic dogs, which are able to climb stairs, avoid ...
- Best kept secret: BC RCMP’s Explosive Disposal Unit
November 10, 2023
Last summer, two male suspects entered a Saanich bank clad in full body armor and armed with semi-automatic SKS rifles. When officers arrived on scene, there was an armed robbery in progress and 22 innocent people were inside the bank. Both gunmen, later identified as twin brothers Mathew and Isaac Auchterlonie, were killed by police, while ...
- Idaho: Twin Falls Bomb Squad shares protocols in wake of bomb threat at local grocery store
November 8, 2023
Last weekend a Twin Falls grocery received a bomb threat. KMVT caught up with the Twin Falls Police Department’s Bomb Squad to follow up on the incident and their standard protocol. According to Sergeant Ryan Howe, the bomb threat at Smith’s Grocery, located on Addison Avenue East, turned out to be nothing of concern to local ...
- Robot Range Enhancements Unveiled at the Fall DoD EODT&T Program Board Meeting
October 19, 2023
Indian Head, Maryland – Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division’s (NSWC IHD) Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technology Center (EODTECHCEN) hosted the fall EOD Technology and Technical (EODT&T) Program Board meeting, September 28. Members of the board, comprised of rear admirals, brigadier generals, major generals and other high-ranking officials from each of the four services were ...
- Ontario: Intense bomb-squad practice pays off for Barrie constable
October 8, 2023
Barrie police Const. Kevin Barkley, donned in a heavy, green armoured suit that covers him from head to toe, uses long-handled forceps to nudge debris on the pavement at a parking lot at 108 Anne St. N. near Edgehill Drive. He is slow and careful as he looks over the remains of an improvised explosive ...
- European Defence Agency monitored project links ground and aerial systems to detect explosives
October 2, 2023
The European Defence Agency has overseen the final demonstration of coordination between aerial and ground unmanned systems in the detection of explosives. During the demonstration, one aerial unmanned system and two ground unmanned systems, each equipped with different sensors, undertook a complete autonomous search to detect mock-ups of explosives and improvised explosive devices, including unexploded ordinance ...
- Ontario: IED believed to be on vehicle in Barrie, parking lot explodes, sparking evacuations
September 27, 2023
Police locked down and evacuated a section of Barrie, Ont., Wednesday in the city’s west end after an explosion in a parking lot. Barrie Police Services Corporate Communications Coordinator Peter Leon said the improvised explosive device (IED) is believed to have been placed on a vehicle in an Anne Street North parking lot and was ...
- This police robot is designed for bomb disposal, but in Newfoundland and Labrador it has a different job
September 14, 2023
The ICOR Flex is the latest design in bomb-disposal technology. The Newfoundland and Labrador RCMP do not encounter many bombs, so they use the robot for a very different job. Read more… Source: CBC News
- Ukraine’s sea drones, part of Ukraine’s fightback in the Black Sea
July 30, 2023
At a secret makeshift military base a nondescript van and pickup truck tow two gray objects covered by tarpaulin mounted on trailers. In the driving rain, they resemble something more akin to a Boston Whaler, rather than hiding one of Ukraine’s most closely guarded secrets. Perched on the banks of a secret lake, CNN was given ...
- UK: Bomb disposal robot deployed after “suspicious item” found at Portsmouth and Southsea railway station
July 16, 2023
Emergency services swarmed the around around Portsmouth and Southsea railway station after an item was found earlier this morning. A 100m cordon has been set up around the station, blocking members of the public from getting near the scene. Trains are being halted at Fratton railway station while police carry out their work. Read more… Source: The News Related ...
