Pitt robot going to Detroit

Security at the Super Bowl has always been tight, but this time around the NFL has hired some… Security at the Super Bowl has always been tight, but this time around the NFL has hired some extra insurance in the form of cutting-edge robot inspection technology.

The robotics system, referred to as ODIS (Omni-Directional Inspection System) is the brainchild of FirstLink – a major program at Pitt’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence, part of the Joseph M. Katz School of Business.

The NFL has ordered six ODIS units for use at Super Bowl XL, where it will be deployed by the Michigan National Guard and used to inspect the undersides of vehicles for explosives.

ODIS has already seen use by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, where more than 20 units have been deployed for inspection and reconnaissance purposes. It has also been employed in limited ways for domestic security purposes, such as checking parked vehicles at the Pittsburgh airport.

The Super Bowl will be the largest civilian event at which ODIS has been used.

An ODIS unit comes in the modest form of a four-inches high, three-wheeled, steel-encased box-like robotic vehicle, weighing in at 30 pounds. The robot is not only designed to inspect the undersides of vehicles; it is also capable of conducting remote-controlled communications.

“One obvious application that we thought of for ODIS is to help with U.S. customs and border control,” FirstLink’s Senior Consulting Manager Susan Zelicoff said. “Often there are long traffic lines at the U.S. border due to vehicle checks, and ODIS would be very useful here in speeding up the process.”

ODIS could be used as a communication device by the operator.

The front end of the robot has a camera and a microphone at the end of a retractable pole.

“This way the operator can sit at a safe distance and can even control the camera angle with a variety of functions like lighting, zoom in or rotating,” Zelicoff said.

Established in 2004, FirstLink is one of five programs at the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence geared towards helping businesses and entrepreneurs. FirstLink’s particular focus is identifying military technologies available for license and helping to commercialize those that are suitable for civilian use.

“ODIS is not our first project – we already have a dozen successes to our credit, but ODIS is our first one to have a lot of media attention, which is exciting because of all the recognition we’re getting,” Zelicoff said.

Other sources involved in NFL Security declined comment because of security issues.