BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — The Bloomsburg Police Department recently got a robot to add to its force. The only problem—it did not work.
It's called an iRobot, and you could say it's the newest member of the Bloomsburg Police Department.
"It's a robotic arm with a camera, and it's normally designed for retrieving something that could potentially be an explosive device without having to put an officer in a bomb suit," said Bloomsburg Police Chief Scott Price.
A new iRobot costs about $140,000, but Chief Price says his department got it for free through a program with the federal government.
The only problem is it didn't work.
One of the police officers suggested taking it to Bloomsburg Area High School's robotics class.
"When this opportunity popped up, it was just sort of like, 'Wow, this is cool,'" said Kirk Marshall, Bloomsburg Area's robotic design teacher. "I've never seen a robot like this. To see the technology that's involved in a military-type robot is pretty cool."
Marshall teaches an engineering class at Bloomsburg Area for students to design robots. They worked on the iRobot for about a month and got it working.
On this day, the students showed off the iRobot to members of the police department. The students were happy to help.
"In college, I'm going to have to do programming and things like that because I'm going into computer engineering. This is really cool to see another thing that can make a robot like this," said senior Ben Sohosky.
Chief Price is happy his department got to work with the students.
"We think it gives the students a great opportunity to do something hands-on. This isn't just theory anymore. This is a device that's maybe going to go out and retrieve a bomb or something of that nature, and it gives the students that experience," said the chief.
The students have the satisfaction of knowing they worked on what could potentially be a piece of lifesaving equipment.
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