Mich. Police Force Donates Bomb-Retrieving Robot to Help Fellow Agency

KALAMAZOO, MI — The Grand Rapids Police Department is giving its old bomb-retrieving robot to the city of Kalamazoo for free.

Because it has an FBI-certified bomb squad, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety is required to keep at least one robot in its arsenal.

KDPS already has a Remotec F6 Explosives Ordinance Disposal (EOD) robot, per city documents. The robot coming from Grand Rapids is nearly identical.

Police use the robot to find and retrieve possible explosives from a safe distance, mitigating the risk for human members of the team.

It’s frequently used in both training and real-world responses, said KDPS Bomb Squad Coordinator Lt. David Moran.

Repairs are needed more and more often, Moran said. This can take the robot out of service for weeks or months at a time, per city documents.

Robot options are expanding, per city documents, slowly rendering this model obsolete, difficult and costly to repair.

“Recently, during an active call, we experienced a video feed issue and had to transition to a secondary robot to complete the mission,” Moran said.

“When a robot isn’t available, our options become more limited; either deploying a technician in a bomb suit or requesting assistance from another agency.”

Although bomb technicians are highly trained, unreliable remote technology limits the team’s ability to mediate risk, documents state.

This second robot will serve as a backup and provide spare parts, Moran said.

KDPS purchased its robot for about $125,000 in 2000, Kalamazoo Gazette reported previously.

It’d cost the city around $200,000 to fully upgrade or replace one of the robots, per city documents.

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