North Orange County SWAT's Vantage Robot Survives Strip Charge
The strip charge blew away the steel door shooting a shock wave right into the newest member of the North Orange County SWAT team member. But there was no negative effect as the newest NOC SWAT officer climbed over the debris and entered the building where a domestic violence subject hid in a closet with a loaded firearm threatening to kill himself or any officer getting near.
But this was no ordinary police officer. This was Transcend Tactical’s Vantage robot whose sole purpose is to protect and defend police officers and their suspects by acting as an electronic intermediary to avoid the face to face contact that can result in gunfire unwanted by all.
In this case, the Vantage did its job by climbing up a set of difficult stairs that had stopped two other more expensive police robots, provided live video with two-way audio from a safe distance away, and then proceeded to clear the building room by room until if found the suspect. Just the mere presence of the robot diffused the situation and the man gave himself up without violence.
The apartment was, “. . . a total mess.” But, “The robot rolled over the debris and junk with ease.”
One of the sheriff deputies stated it succinctly, “The Transcend robot has consistently been able to climb stairs where other robots fail even with various debris in its path. Those debris include breached doors and windows.”
“We didn’t need to use the FLIR camera during this deployment as the lights were on, but we did use the pan / tilt / zoom 25x camera which allowed for great situational awareness.”
Through this and other tactical deployments, the Transcend Tactical Vantage robot has earned the prestigious right of being called, “. . . our go to tactical robot.”
He went on to say, “It is the best robot we’ve had. The robot entered the room and traversed all the clutter and was able to clear the home and found the suspect in the back room in the closet. The operator was able to push open ajar-doors after climbing very difficult stairs that had three-inch diameter rounded bullnose steps without back panels.” Anyone who has ever tried to accomplish that task with other robots knows it was an almost impossible task. But not for the Transcend Tactical Vantage robot.
“This was a very dangerous situation. The suspect was armed with a hand gun and had pulled the gas line to set the house on fire. It is a major advantage to have the robot go into the space to scout and send back information such as floor plans, suspect location, and information about possible barricades or even booby-traps.”
Transcend Tactical has developed its Vantage robot at a price point so that any agency can afford its life-saving capabilities. No dangerous deployment should operate without it. For more information contact www.TranscendTactical.com.
