Mindsheet Wins MOD Contract to Develop a Portable “Battle-Winning” Reconnaissance Robot

Mindsheet is pleased to announce that we have been awarded an MOD contract to develop a rugged mini-robot to act as a reconnaissance scout for troops.

Mindsheet Press Release
25 February 2009

Mindsheet is pleased to announce that we have been awarded an MOD contract by the CDE (Centre for Defence Enterprise) to develop a rugged mini-robot, named Testudo, to act as a reconnaissance scout for troops. 

Originally unveiled at the MOD Grand Challenge 2008, the robot scout is a platoon level asset that supports hazardous ground manoeuvres such as early warning of threat events, clearance of hazardous ground, compounds and buildings and could even help locate enemy fire. This low cost, man portable device acts as a force multiplier that could ultimately save lives. 

The £28k contract, awarded in January 2009, will enable Mindsheet to further develop the robot for field testing in March with a view to realise the production system later in 2009.

Mindsheet has already been awarded Innovation of the Year by The News, Portsmouth, for work on the robot to date.

Raglan Tribe, the Managing Director of Mindsheet, says:

It’s a great honour to be given the opportunity to support our troops. Hopefully, this programme will allow us to get the technology in a state where it could help save lives.  If so, then our job is done”.

END

Mindsheet Wins Innovation Of The Year Award

In association with the The News, Mindsheet has won ‘Innovation Of The Year Award’. The team were presented with the award at The News Business Excellence Awards ceremony in Portsmouth in January 2009.

In association with the The News, Mindsheet has won ‘Innovation Of The Year Award’.  The team were presented with the award at The News Business Excellence Awards ceremony in Portsmouth in January 2009.innovationaward 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Awards were a chance to honour companies and organisations across the South East Hampshire region.   The nine award categories reflected the merits of team work, community involvement, innovation and high achievement. Forty-eight entries made it onto the shortlist across all categories.

Innovation of the Year Trophy
Innovation of the Year Tropy

Amid such an amazing range of local business talent at the Gala Awards Dinner, we were happily surprised to win the Innovation of the Year category –

“For individuals or businesses which had shown a proclivity to ‘think outside the box’, becoming the first in their field to embark on a particular course of action, or having researched and developed a particularly novel and useful system or product”.

for our Testudo robot spy buggy – a remote control reconnaissance device that combat troops can send into enemy territory to scout for hazards.

The robot was developed in response to the 2008 MOD Grand Challenge.  It gave us the perfect platform to demonstrate how we work with our customers to gain a deep understanding of their operations and behaviour.  We specialise in helping companies develop breakthrough products and services in highly complex environments. 

Throughout the exercise we involved soldiers with recent active service experience to guide the development so that it was soldier friendly and relevant.  Following our success at the Grand Challenge we are in discussions with the MoD who recently agreed to fund the next stage of development.

Learn more about our exploits in the MOD Grand Challenge.

Mindsheet Grand Challenge

Mindsheet have designed a cooperative set of miniature autonomous surveillance vehicles with a top speed of 35MPH in response to the MOD Grand Challenge.

You are a Company or Platoon commander about to undertake an urban operation, which might culminate in contact with enemy forces. As you enter the urban terrain your views along main streets are relatively good, but are figures in the distance hostile or not? Elsewhere, your line-of-sight is blocked by walls, buildings, shrubbery and all the usual urban clutter, such as power and telephone poles and cables. What waits at the next intersection? What lies round the corner of the next building or concealed in houses or behind rooftop parapets?

Answering those questions is the crux of the MOD Grand Challenge. In response, Mindsheet have designed a cooperative set of miniature autonomous surveillance vehicles with a top speed of 35MPH. The vehicles are based on a rugged remote control toy platform.

Each vehicle can follow a pre-assigned mission plan and then wirelessly report back detected threats that may include: snipers, IEDs, militia and technicals to a base station. This allows the remote generation of situation reports without risk to ground troops who do not have to enter the hazard zone.

IED Bomb Inspection by Mindsheet Robot
Soldiers trial the Testudo robots for Improvised Explosive Device inspection.

Raglan Tribe demonstrates the Testudo robot to Vicki Butler-Henderson from the Channel 5 Fifth Gear show
Raglan Tribe demonstrates the Testudo robot to Vicki Butler-Henderson from the Channel 5 Fifth Gear show
The Mindsheet Grand Challenge Team
The Mindsheet Grand Challenge Team
The Testudo Robot in its early stages of design
The Testudo Robot in its early stages of design
chris-burgess
Chris Burgess operating the Ground Control Station
Testudo finds the technical threat
Testudo finds the technical threat
Testudo at Copehill Down
Testudo at Copehill Down
Testudo crosses a puddle
Testudo crosses a puddle
Testudo finds a marksman
Testudo finds a marksman