Bomb squad robot sees first duty

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

The newest member of the police bomb squad, a wheeled robot called the Mini-Andros, saw its first action yesterday when someone reported a suspected pipe bomb on the Moanalua Freeway in Kalihi.

Police eventually learned the object was a piece of plastic pipe fashioned to hold drill bits, but not before some or all of the freeway's eastbound lanes were closed from about 9:30 to 10:20 a.m.

It was the maiden voyage for the still-unnamed robot, said Capt. Doug Miller of the Honolulu Police Department's specialized services division. Its sibling, a larger model able to handle heavier objects, awaits its first task, Miller said.

Police bought the robots earlier this year from Remotec of Oak Ridge, Tenn., Miller said, using emergency money the city made available after Sept. 11. The lawnmower-sized device can be fitted with a grabber arm, camera and other implements.

Yesterday's episode began when a passerby alerted police about 8:19 a.m. that a cylindrical object about a foot long and an inch in diameter was on the roadside just before the Middle Street overpass, Miller said.

The bomb squad arrived about 9:30 a.m. and closed the two right lanes.

About 10 a.m. all lanes were closed while the bomb squad stood 150 feet from the pipe and deployed Mini-Andros.

The robot retrieved the object — a piece of PVC pipe capped at both ends — and put it in a containment vessel. Miller said the vessel was taken to the police firing range at Koko Head, where Mini-Andros removed it from the container.

"The robot's quite versatile," he said. "It's able to scale stairs, some steep inclines you might not think it could handle."

Human intervention is still needed, of course. The bomb squad yesterday used a gun that shoots non-explosive projectiles to crack open the pipe, Miller said. The robot moved in and took pictures, and then officers discovered it was filled with drill bits, which may have fallen off a truck onto the freeway.