Design

Because things should just work

Technology should just work. As we see it, the most sophisticated equipment should also be the simplest to use.

This has been our guiding principle in developing GroundBot. Robots are by nature sophisticated pieces of technology. But that’s no reason why they should be complicated to use or difficult to own.

Let’s you get on with it

rotundus

We see it as our job to let you get on with your job. That’s why we have developed a robust platform that can get out of tight corners by itself and that is virtually breakdown-free. That’s also why GroundBot is easy to steer by hand and simple to automate. And that’s why we’ve kept the user interface as free from graphical clutter as possible.

The simplicity of a sphere

rotundus

The spherical design is simplicity itself. With its large circumference, GroundBot takes all kinds of terrain in its stride. And yet its appearance is friendly and unthreatening.

Inside, all cameras and sensors are sealed off from the outside world. This means that they are protected from bangs and knocks. In addition, the outside world is protected from potential electrical sparks when GroundBot is investigating gas leaks.

Being there

You don’t need to read instructions to operate an arcade driving game. It’s intuitive. And that’s how easy it is to steer GroundBot in the manual control mode.

But there’s one big difference: when you’re driving GroundBot the landscape you’re moving through is for real. Streamed in real-time, in 2D or 3D. Operators say that it makes you feel you are actually there, sitting in GroundBot, looking out.

This near-reality experience also makes operators more alert to anyone or anything that shouldn’t be there. GroundBot can even be used to find out where an unauthorized person is going.

A very ungraphical user interface

Handling thousands of lines of code is our job. Yours is to keep people and places safe. We take care of the data streams, so you can take care of security.

GroundBot helps you do a better job in three ways:

  1. We’ve kept the monitors clear of any unnecessary informational clutter. This allows guards to give guarding their undivided attention.
  2. The unfolding scene transmitted from GroundBot is not a graphical representation of reality, but the real thing, in real-time, in panoramic 3D.
  3. You see a computer-generated image of GroundBot super-imposed into the real-time video stream, so that you know exactly where you are, and where you want to go. It’s know as Augmented Reality.

MPEG-4 for plug-and-play integration

You can integrate GroundBot with existing systems with plug-and-play simplicity. The video streams are transmitted via MPEG-4 wrapped in RTP/RTSP. In other words, GroundBot is easy to integrate with virtually any legacy system.