March 2006 System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER)

Homeland
Security
SA ER
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security,
Preparedness Directorate, Office of Grants and
Training (G&T) established the System
Assessment and Validation for Emergency
Responders (SAVER) Program to assist emer-
gency responders in performing their duties.
The mission of the SAVER Program is to
• Provide impartial, practitioner rele-
vant, and operationally oriented
assessments and validations of emer-
gency responder equipment.
• Provide information that enables
decision-makers and responders to
better select, procure, use, and main-
tain emergency responder equip-
ment.
• Assess and validate the performance
of products within a system, as well
as systems within systems.
• Provide information and feedback to
the user community through a well-
maintained, Web-based database.
Summary
Small Robot User Assessment:
Foster-Miller Talon III-B
The primary goal of the small bomb-disposal robot assessment is to provide
information that will assist bomb squads across the country in selecting robotic
platforms that will meet their needs. The end objective is to evaluate a number of
small robots (small robot is defined as a platform weighing between 31 and 400
pounds), and post the results on the SAVER Web site, making it available to all
law enforcement and fire department bomb squads. The U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, Preparedness Directorate, Office of Grants and Training
(G&T) tasked the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) Operational Analysis
(OA) Team to provide expertise and analysis on small bomb-disposal robots. In
support of this assignment, the TSWG developed a standardized process by
which small robots are assessed according to user-defined requirements under
operationally and tactically relevant conditions typically encountered by the
responder community.
For this project, the TSWG OA Team worked with the Miami Police Department
Bomb Squad.

The SAVER Program established and is support-

ed by a network of technical agents who per-
form the actual assessment and validation
activities. Further, SAVER focuses primarily on
two main questions for the emergency respon-
der community, “What equipment is avail-
able?” and “How does it perform?”

To contact the SAVER Program Support Office

Phone:877-347-3371
E-mail: saver.odp@dhs.gov
Visit the SAVER Web site: https://saver.fema.gov
 The TSWG OA Team evaluates the robotic system by
allowing participants to deploy the robot in response to
operational scenarios, which are common and well doc-
umented in actual bomb squad response reports. In
addition, they identified tasks common to law enforce-
ment and fire department bomb technicians requiring
access to and defeating an improvised explosive device
(IED) and a vehicle borne improvised explosive device
(VBIED). These tasks are inclusive of arrival, set up of
robotic system, and access to the target, as well as
employment of render safe procedures.
The first phase of the project is the user assessment of
specific commercially available robots; the assessments of
the first three robots are now available on the SAVER Web
site. The second part of the analysis is the logistics sup-
port data, which will be provided by the users over a 12
month period, and will be included as an addendum to
each of the robot evaluation reports after all the data is
collected.
This is a summary of the contents of the Small Robot
User Assessment Foster-Miller Talon III-B Final Report.
The report should be reviewed for the full discussion and
recommendations. The complete report can be found on
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the SAVER Web site along with the reports on the pre-
viously assessed robots (https://saver.fema.gov).
Small Robot Assessment
The first two small robots selected for evaluation were
the Vanguard MK II-T and the Mesa Matilda Block II.
G&T and the TSWG worked in conjunction with the
Houston Police Department Bomb Squad and the
Minneapolis Police Department Bomb Squad, respective-
ly. The Foster-Miller Talon III-B remote control vehicle
(RCV) is the third robot to be evaluated during the
small robot user assessment project. The Talon robot is
manufactured by Foster-Miller Inc. of Waltham,
Massachusetts. The Talon is one of several small robot
systems purchased by the Department of Defense for
use in Iraq and Afghanistan. The basic system includes
the platform with an operational control unit (OCU), a
wireless data and video communications package, an
audio microphone (one-way communications), a two
stage arm assembly with color video camera mounted at
the elbow, and a gripper/manipulator with a color
video camera mounted on top and two additional cam-
eras mounted on the rear of the platform. The platform
is powered by two 36-volt lead-acid batteries and
includes a lead-acid battery charger. The OCU comes
with an AC-to-DC power supply. Additional kits and
options can be purchased. For this evaluation, the Talon
system was purchased with the following options:
rechargeable OCU battery kit, 40:1 auto focus zoom
color camera, fiber optic communications and control
system with 300 meters of Kevlar-coated cable, 2 chan-
nel firing set, forward looking illumination package,
PAN disrupter mount with recoil reduction, pan and tilt
mast, two-way audio communications system, and a
OCU controllable 360 degree wrist assembly. In addi-
tion, the TSWG supplied the evaluating organization
with a recoil reduction adapter, which is required when
firing E-Blank cartridges in the PAN disrupter mounted
on the RCV using the recoilless disrupter mount. The
Talon was evaluated by the Miami Police Department
Bomb Squad.
Evaluation Process
The small robots selected for the evaluation were pur-
chased by the TSWG with funding from G&T. G&T and
the TSWG worked in conjunction with the supporting
Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) City Bomb Squads
in performing the evaluation of the systems. A small
robotic system is provided to the supporting city, and
the bomb technicians are given manufacturer’s training
on the system. The organization is then given 30 to 60
days to train/practice using the robot to perform specific
tasks. During the evaluation phase, two bomb techni-
cians operate the robot through staged IED and VBIED
response scenarios, designed to test the robot’s ability to
perform specific mission tasks.
After completing the scenarios, the technicians are given
a performance survey consisting of a list of 40 robotic
tasks that are performed during the response scenarios.
The technicians are asked to rate how the robot per-
formed each task on a scale of zero to five, with zero
indicating the system does not have the capability to
perform the task and five indicating the robot can per-
form the task easily. The tasks, while not all inclusive,
represent a large percentage of common tasks in dealing
with a common IED and VBIED scenario. A chart identi-
fying the tasks and their respective ratings is included in
the assessment report. In addition, the tasks are grouped
into the SAVER categories—capability, deployability, and
usability.
Results
The total task performance score was 153.5 points out
of a maximum of 200 points. This is a subjective rating
by the bomb technicians, and is based on the perform-
ance of the robotic system combined with the operat-
ing skill of the technicians. A list of the tasks and their
ratings under these categories is provided in exhibits 1
thru 3. The results are also displayed in the star chart in
exhibit 4. For the bomb technicians’ comments regard-
ing the technical characteristics, see the assessment
report located on the SAVER Web site. The Miami Police
Department Bomb Squad will maintain custody of the
Talon and will be reporting maintenance and reliability
data for a period of 12 months. The TSWG will update
its report as the information becomes available and
these updates will be available on the SAVER Web site.
The TSWG OA Team will continue evaluating other
small robotic systems over the next year, and include
those evaluations on the SAVER Web site as they are
completed.

After completing the task assessment survey, the partici-

pating bomb technicians are interviewed. The technicians
are asked to provide positive and negative feedback on
the 39 technical characteristics of the remote controlled
vehicle (technical characteristics come from the TSWG
Common Architecture Document for Robotics). This
information is important in understanding the user’s
impression of the strengths or weaknesses of the system
against each specific technical characteristic; this infor-
mation can be found in the assessment report.

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 SAVER CATEGORIES Overall Rating SAVER CATEGORIES Overall Rating
Capability Usability
Direct RCV by OCU
Deal with Obstacles
Visual Feedback 4.0
Avoid obstacles 4.0
Control/Manipulate Robot 4.5
Audio Feedback 2.5 Remove obstacles 3.5
Negotiate obstacles 4.0
Exhibit 1. Foster-Miller Talon III-B Capability Rating Negotiate Terrain
Horizontal 4.0
Vertical (terrain other than flat) 4.0
Soft/Wet (mud, snow, sand) 4.0
SAVER CATEGORIES Overall Rating
Rough/rocky 4.0
Deployability
Negotiate Stairs or Ramps
Off Load
Remove robot from vehicle 5.0 Configuration change to negotiate stairs 3.0

Remove OCU from vehicle 5.0 Ascend/descend stairs 3.5

Setup Turn on stairway landing/entrances 3.0

Operational systems check 5.0 Defeat lock 2.5

Attach tool(s) 3.5 Defeat knob 3.0

Breakdown RCV Negotiate Doors

Open door 3.0
Safe tools 5.0
Secure door 3.5
Remove all tools 4.0
Pass through door 4.0
Upload
Gain Access to Targets
Place robot on vehicle 5.0
Manually 3.0
Place OCU in vehicle 5.0
Explosively 4.5
Exhibit 2. Foster-Miller Talon III-B Deployability Rating Visually inspect inside of containers 4.5
Remove target from containers 3.5
Pick up and carry away 3.5
RSP/Interrupt Device
Arm Tool 4.5
Position disruption tool 2.5
Aim disruption tool 2.0
Fire tools 4.0
Blow in Place Attack Filler
Place charge 4.5
Withdraw robot 5.0
Initiate charge 4.5
Isolate components
Manually with end effector (Grabber) 3.0
Place component in CMC 3.0

Exhibit 3. Foster-Miller Talon III-B Usability Rating

Note: Rating scale from zero to five, with zero indicating the system does not have the capability to perform the task
and five indicating the robot can perform the task easily.

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Exhibit 4. SAVER Web site: Small Robot User Assessment QuickLook

SAVER is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland SAVER Program Support Office
Security, Preparedness Directorate, Office of Grants and Phone: 877-347-3371 Fax: 443-402-9489
Training. E-Mail: saver.odp@dhs.gov
Web: https://saver.fema.gov
Distribution authorized to federal, state, tribal, and local
government agencies only for administrative or opera-
tional use, December 2005. Other requests for this docu-
ment shall be referred to the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, Preparedness Directorate, Office of
Grants and Training, Systems Support Division, 800 K
Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001.

For more information on the small bomb robot project

please see the SAVER Web site or contact the SAVER
Program Support Office. 5