Team from Kirtland captures first place at robot rodeo

  • Published
  • By Adam Bailey
  • Nucleus staff writer
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  The 377th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight at Kirtland took first at the Western National Robot Rodeo in June.

The teams were made up of members from bomb squads or other public safety organizations. This year's event, June 17-21 in Albuquerque, had eight local and national teams competing.

The Kirtland EOD team was comprised of Capt. Brandon Horii, Tech. Sgt. John Degnaro, Staff Sgt. Matthew Curvey, Staff Sgt. Rileigh Woodward, Senior Airmen Chris Turnbull and Airmen 1st Class Reed Fitzhugh.

"We weren't able to compete the last couple years, so it was great getting to compete this year and taking first place," Horii said.

The annual robot rodeo is a partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratories and Sandia National Laboratories, and in cooperation with the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators Region II.

The event tested various robot operation skills, such as improvised explosive device and vehicle-borne improvised explosive device disablement, techniques and procedures, transportation and operator proficiency.

"We were given robots and tested on things like navigating an obstacle course to situations where we had to disarm an IED," Horii said.

The event was also made up of scenarios that mimicked real-world situations, including an airplane search, rescue of downed firefighters, navigating by global positioning system, live-fire maneuvers and field diagnosis of a sick robot.

The event allowed teams to learn from a challenging training environment, test their capabilities, use new technology and tools, practice their skills and make networking opportunities, Horii said.

The Albuquerque Police Department took second place and the New Jersey State Police Department took third place.

For more information on the Western National Robot Rodeo, visit go to www.sandia.gov/wnrr.