‘s hybrid drone system, the Rooster, successfully performed a building scan-and-clear mission for the Spanish armed forces during an exercise that simulated a hostile urban environment, efficiently providing vital information and real-time video for intelligence assessment.
Telefónica Ltd. collaborated with Robotican during the Foro 2E+i – Fuerza 2035 military exercise (Foro 2E+i – Fuerza 2035 2022 in Toledo, Spain). The event included the Spanish armed forces executing ground drills against enemy positions in a building while using the Robotican Rooster. The SPF company scanned and cleared the buildings as part of a breaching maneuver to penetrate the compound while keeping forces out of harm’s way.
While the company physically secured the bottom floor, the Rooster, controlled by a Robotican operator located two kilometers away, scanned the upper floors and relayed real-time intelligence to the forces on the ground. In a second scenario, the team deployed the Rooster through a hole in the building’s roof and scanned the building while the company waited for the signal to begin its assault.
The Rooster is a revolutionary, safe and easy-to-operate hybrid system for indoor and underground unmanned reconnaissance missions. The combination of ground robotics and drone capabilities provides a rapidly deployable platform with long-endurance capabilities to support indoor missions. Mesh communication increases effectiveness in underground and communication-denied areas. Additional payloads can be mounted on the Rooster to meet the diverse end-user requirements of modern militaries, special forces, first responders, HLS (homeland security) forces, and commercial organizations. Thanks to its flexible cage, the Rooster is capable of rolling over all types of terrain and flying over obstacles, staircases, furniture, or through windows. The cage prevents any damage to the drone caused by in-flight collisions with structural obstacles.
Robotican specializes in developing and manufacturing autonomous robotics and drones for challenging operational needs, with proven results. Since 2013, the company has supplied unique, creative robots and drones to the defense, HLS, and civilian sectors.
Robotican Rooster unmanned system with control station. (Janes/Akshara Parakala)
The company displayed an improved version of its Rooster unmanned system at the IDEX 2023 show, which was held in Abu Dhabi from 20 to 24 February.
The semi-autonomous hybrid system can operate either as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), and is designed to undertake indoor and outdoor intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, including in contested and Global Positioning System (GPS)-denied environments.
The improved version of the Rooster is fitted with larger rotors for enhanced lift, a lighter fuselage to maximise the payload capacity, and a modular structure that enables a wider range of payloads to be integrated.
A typical Rooster is enclosed in a gimbal stabilised mesh, which enables it to roll in a two-dimensional plane on the ground and fly via downward-facing X-configured quad rotors.
A Robotican official told Janes that
“the Rooster was primarily designed to operate on naval vessels, and in confined spaces [such as] in buildings, caves, tunnels, and disaster sites, etc for special forces and police forces”.
The system usually operates in a mesh radio link configuration to relay communication between three vehicles and a control station. The vehicle has a maximum take-off weight of 1.45 kg, payload capacity of 0.3 kg, and a maximum endurance of 1.5 hours. It can roll for 45 minutes and hover for up to 12 minutes.
Sources: Press Release; Janes