APRIL 18, 2022 – In December 2021, the Portland Air National Guard Base (PANGB) became the first Air National Guard base to house the innovative technology developed by Ghost Robotics known as the Quadrupedal Unmanned Ground Vehicle (QUGV). This four-legged droid is most commonly referred to as a robot dog.
The new addition to the PANGB family has been under the care of the 142nd Security Forces Squadron here. The canine-like body of the QUGV reflects the beams of sunshine off of its exterior, and with one click of a button, it is awakened.
142nd Security Forces Squadron logistics and resources noncommissioned officer, Tech. Sgt. Jamie Cuniff, has been working with the new technology since its arrival at PANGB.
“We’re kind of spearheading this whole side of security, this autonomous defender as they say, which makes me feel really good and proud to be in the unit,” said Cuniff.
Cuniff has been a key advocate for the adoption of the robot dog, and has been the leading force in getting it ready for its security mission here.
“From a security standpoint, it’s going to benefit us in the way that it provides some real time video feedback and also acts as a deterrent,” said Cuniff.
This semi-autonomous robot is programmed to minimize human exposure to danger. The unique capabilities of the robot, including its sensor package, creates a notable advantage for base security.
“It’s going to give us exponentially more, real time ground situational awareness” said 142nd Security Forces Commander, Lt. Col. Ryan Barton. “I see the dog bringing a lot of additional capability down the road. Say we have a building alarm or an event we need to respond to on the installation– the dog can go with us or first and provide us a video feed of what’s going on inside the building, while also providing a two way interface that allows us the ability to start affecting the situation while other Defenders respond.”
The robot can independently track the perimeter of the base, endure a variety of terrain, scan the area with multiple different camera types, travel long distances on one charge, provide active surveillance of the area, and funnel that information back to those in the Security Forces Squadron through secure means. The Defenders can interrupt the autonomous function of the dog at any time, and manually control it, as a means to focus or direct the capability based on the circumstance.
“This is the type of change that we should all strive for,” said Barton. “Maybe not a robot dog, but to find things that humans don’t necessarily have to do, or don’t do well and incorporate technology or some version of innovation to free up the manpower while also enhancing capability.”
The use of the robot prevents real dogs and humans from being unnecessarily exposed to danger. Additionally, the camera capabilities provide information that would not be perceptible to the human eye. According to Barton, looking forward, the base is working to gain two more QUGVs, for a total of three dogs which will provide enhanced security to the base, protecting our personnel as well as our mission assets.
This novel addition to the 142nd Wing brings with it the ability to enhance PANG’s mission effectiveness through additional detection and alert capability, freeing up time for the defender to become more proficient in their skill sets, as we move into the future.
Story by Airman 1st Class yuki klein
142nd Wing