15-06-2017

A bomb in Warlub: The ‘Expert’ robot in action

Explosive disposal experts from the Police removed a suspicious object from a teacher’s car using a robot built by the Industrial Institute for Automatics and Measurements (PIAP). The car was parked on the area of the School Complex in Warlub (Kujawy-Pomerania Province). TVP3 Bydgoszcz, Gazeta Pomorska, TVN24, Polsat News and Super Express gave coverage of the action.

The woman who drove the car discovered the suspicious object after getting to work Students and teachers of the Warlub school, almost 600 persons, were evacuated as reported by TVP Bydgoszcz on June 12, 2017. Staff Sergeant Joanna Tarkowska, the spokesperson for the County Police HQ in Świecie, described the object attached under the car as a plastic container with unknown substance combined with a timer.

A Bomb Squad from the Province Police HQ in Bydgoszcz was sent to the site. The officers removed the object using the ‘Expert’ robot and then detonated it in controlled conditions.

The ‘Expert’ robot participating in the mission is a supporting-neutralizing machine. It has been in service in the Polish Police from several years. The robot weighs almost 200 kilograms and it can lift loads of up to 15 kilograms. The unique design of the robot features a very compact mobile base and a large, 3-meter, range of the manipulator (mechanized arm), so the machine can pick up objects from hardly accessible spaces. In addition, the ‘Expert’ has 6 cameras. The operator can accurately control the robot based on video streams while staying at a safe distance from the explosive device.

Detailed information, photographs and footage of the Warlub incident were broadcast by TVP3 Bydgoszcz, Gazeta Pomorska, TVN24, Polsat News, Super Express and other TV channels.