Tech Shout!

Robots are having a field day in Germany. While one group has just completed a World Cup championship in Bremen, Germany, another group is diligently patrolling Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, one of the 12 venues hosting the World Cup soccer tournament currently taking place in the country. Berlin-based company Robowatch, has developed two surveillance robots. One is similar to those used by the U.S. military as scouts in Iraq, and 11 of them are patrolling underground parking lots inside Berlin’s Olympic Stadium and a football-sized field next to the arena covered by tents holding the media, sponsors and VIPs.

“This is the first time robots like this have ever been used at a major sporting event,” Robowatch spokesman Benjamin Stengl said. “They haven’t caught anybody. They haven’t actually had much to do. This has been a very safe World Cup, luckily.”

An outdoor robot OFRO uses thermal cameras at night to spot intruders through their body heat. It is capable of much more as it has with sensors equipped to detect radiation, including alpha, beta and gamma, along with toxins, viruses and chemical warfare agents.

“These things won’t be used here, but we see this as a learning experience, where we can go back and better the technology,” Stengl said. “The robots here will be mostly used where it’s very boring or very difficult to see.”

Eleven moveable robots are patrolling the stadium area every night through July 9, when the final game of the World Cup soccer tournament takes place in the Berlin stadium. “The security company wanted to ensure 150 percent security so they hired us to help out,” said Robowatch spokesman Benjamin Stengl in an interview on Tuesday. “We’ve been commissioned to provide 20 robots if necessary.”
The robots communicate with the control center via 3G (third-generation) mobile technology. Each robot is equipped with a 3G card, which connects to a dedicated base station in the stadium. All data is encrypted. “We could have used Wi-Fi technology but it would have required additional access points and thus higher costs,” Stengl said.

The robots use satellite navigation systems like those found in cars and send pictures back to a control room in the stadium. Through remote control, they can be sent to check out anything suspicious.