PUNE: The remotely operated vehicle (ROV), Daksh robot, developed by Pune-based DRDO lab, will be inducted into the Pune city police for disposal of suspicious objects/bombs on Wednesday. It is being used by the Army and paramilitary forces.

City-based Research and Development Establishment (Engineers) [R&DE (E)] has designed and developed Daksh, which is the first indigenously developed unmanned vehicle or mobile robot in the country.

On Tuesday, Pune Police Commissioner Dr K Venkatesham tweeted, “Meet the latest member of team @PuneCityPolice, ROV-DAKSH, a remotely operated robot, by DRDO, Pune, for bomb disposal. Daksh will be serving the city with us for the next six months #TechnologyOnDuty.”

According to police officials, Daksh, a state-of-the-art ROV, will be an invaluable asset for the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) unit of the city police while handling improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and hazardous objects.

Daksh is a battery-operated remote-controlled robot on wheels that was created with a primary function of bomb recovery. It is fully automated. It can navigate staircases, negotiate steep slopes, navigate narrow corridors and tow vehicles to reach hazardous materials. 

Using its robotised arm, it can lift a suspect object and scan it using its portable X-Ray device. If the object is a bomb, Daksh can defuse it with its water jet disrupter. It has a shotgun, which can break open locked doors, and it can scan cars for explosives. With a master control station (MCS), it can be remotely controlled over a range of 500 metres in line of sight or within buildings. Ninety per cent of the robot’s components are indigenous, DRDO officials said.