Testudo – Mindsheet

Mindsheet Host Official Mayor Visit

Hot on the heels of winning the Innovation of the Year Award (for our Testudo Surveillance Robot), Mindsheet were pleased to receive a visit from some local dignitaries to come and try out the winning concept for themselves.

Raglan demonstrates Testudo to the local dignitaries — Testudo is taken outside for a bit of a run around

On April 21st Mindsheet welcomed the Mayor of Havant Cllr John Smith, the Mayoress of Havant Mrs Hilary Smith, the Chairman of Hampshire County Council Cllr Michael Woodhall and Havant Borough Council’s Business Development Manager Mr Tony Lee to our office at Langstone Technology Park.

Cllr Woodhall was on a tour of local business parks and the Mayor of Havant was keen to draw our business to his attention as winner of Innovation of the Year in the News Business Awards.

Raglan demonstrate the remote control and visual display

Our guests had a tour of our office and Raglan talked them through the story of our winning robot before we headed outside for a hands-on demo of Testudo.

Our guests were so engaged in talking about the robot alongside Mindsheet’s other activities that they overran their meeting by an hour, making them very late for their next appointment!

For more information about Mindsheet’s win at the Innovation Awards, visit here.

Mindsheet exhibits at National Science and Engineering Week

Mindsheet take their Testudo reconnaisannce robot to a National Science and Engineering Week exhibition at Armoury House.

An army of robots went on display today [11 March 2009] to demonstrate the impact of science and technology on military operations.

Unmanned bomb disposal vehicles and spy robots operated using an Xbox games console controller were lined up for inspection at Armoury House in London.

Mindsheet's Testudo robot at Armoury House

The exhibition is part of National Science and Engineering Week (NSEW), an annual series of events celebrating the importance of science, engineering and technology in our lives.

Minister for Defence Equipment and Support Quentin Davies said: ‘The Ministry of Defence and the defence industry are working together to exploit new technologies that can help and protect our armed forces”.

Mindsheet took along their Testudo reconnaisannce robot to the event organised by the MOD. Testudo was originally conceived for the MOD Grand Challenge in 2008 and we are now under contract with the MOD to make the robot more rugged and user-friendly for battlefield use.

Further coverage of the event:

Mail Online

TMCnet.com

Mindsheet attends launch of MOD’s Defence Technology Plan

Mindsheet were one of 5 companies granted research contracts by the MOD to attend the Defence Technology Plan launch event at Whitehall on 26th February, along with our reconnaissance robot, Testudo.

GADGETS and gizmos that could equip our troops of the future have helped to launch the MOD’s new Defence Technology Plan.

The Defence Technology Plan is the first time the MOD has unveiled its long-term research needs. It underlines the importance of science and technology in providing cutting-edge kit for the battlefield.

Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, Quentin Davies, said:

“Innovation is at the heart of our success on the battlefield and by launching the Defence Technology Plan today, we are looking to embrace and encourage novel, cutting-edge ideas to provide our future forces with the latest technological advances so they can stay one step ahead of the enemy.

“It is more vital than ever that we exploit new and emerging technologies because the threats our troops face are always evolving. To do this, we need to make the best use of the Defence industrial base, as well as the wealth of ability and expertise found among small businesses, talented individuals and academia”.

Mindsheet were one of 5 companies granted research contracts by the MOD, to attend the launch event at Whitehall on 26th February along with our reconnaissance robot, Testudo.

Further coverage of the event:

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.

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.