Robotican’s Rooster hybrid unmanned air/ground vehicle increases combat experience and gets NATO Stock Number
Developed by Robotican, an Israeli privately owned company located in Omer, central Israel, the Rooster is a hybrid unmanned air/ground vehicle designed to operate in confined spaces such as buildings and subterranean environment. It was heavily used by Israeli Defense Forces as well as by Israeli rescue teams since October 7th 2023, and has been adopted by several US and EuropeanSpecial Operation Forces units, which led the system to be assigned a NATO Stock Number
Created in 2013 by a small group of Israeli engineers and scientists, Robotican has a workforce short of 50 personnel, of which 37 are engineers and computer science graduates. It is active in developing autonomous robots, and has considerable in-house capabilities such as autonomous digital twin simulation capabilities including Dynamics, Software-in-the-Loop and Hardware-in-the-Loop for validation and performance
“The main goal of our company is to save people’s lives, our slogan is first in and last out,” Mandy Rosenzwieg, the company Vice-President Sales and Business Development, tells EDR On-Line, showing a video in which the Rooster entered a building that was heavily booby-trapped. As all the products coming from Robotican, the Rooster came from an original idea within the company, and all the following steps, development, production, quality control, delivery and customer support, are also conducted fully in-house. “Our idea during the concept development phase was to create something that could get rid of the disadvantages of the other drones, when used indoor or in subterranean scenarios,” Mandy Rosenzwieg added.
The Rooster is a UAV with a central body hosting electronics, batteries, antennas, and an optronic sensor with a Full-HD Low Level TV camera that extends in the near infrared, with a 130° horizontal field of view and 90° vertical field of view, which allows considerable situational awareness when flying as well as in the static surveillance phase. The system carries two visible light 2,200 Lumen illuminators, and two IR illuminators. Four arms carry at their extremities electric motors activating three-blade rotors, the front arms having those located under the arm while rear ones have them over the arm. A hemispherical cage is located on either side of the UAV; these are connected by beams, the whole structure being very light while robust. These protect the rotors during flight, should the Rooster hit a wall while moving in confined spaces [1]; however their second role is as important as the first, as by using rotors at differential speeds and at low revolutions per minute the cages, which can rotate as they are not rigidly connected to the UAV body, become wheels that allow the Rooster to roll on the ground surface like a UGV, exploiting the rotors thrust. The “wheels” have a diameter of 316 mm, the full width of the robot being 400 mm.
The hybrid air/land movement solution was key to solve the issue of endurance, as batteries are still one of the most critical items in an electrically-powered system. The single Rooster flight endurance is 12 minutes, while the roll time is 30 minutes; typically the Robotican hybrid unmanned system will fly when meeting stairs or other obstacles, and it will roll when possible and when high speed is not required, hence the actual movement endurance is in between the two figures. Three operating modes are available; ground control mode when the robot is rolling on the ground; altitude mode altitude above surface being automatically controlled; and position mode, controlling altitude as well as ensuring obstacle avoidance. However, the Rooster is not always on the move, as it can stay still and observe the scene to monitor any possible movement or other. In that case endurance would further increase, as when the Rooster remains still power consumption is limited to communications and sensors, which can extend its endurance to 4 hours.
The Rooster has a mass of around 1,650 grams, including the integrated optronic suite and the battery. On top of the “fuselage” we find a mounting bracket that allows installing an optional payload, with a maximum mass of 300 grams. “In fact we might even go up to 500 grams, but this would generate a heavy penalty in terms of endurance,” Mandy Rosenzwieg told EDR On-Line. Currently four such sensors have been developed by Robotican; the OS-91 oxygen sensor, the RS-X5 radiation sensor, the TC-54 thermal camera and an unnamed warhead. Some are more oriented versus rescue operations while other are aimed at tactical operations, especially the warhead, developed under the request of Special Forces units. Of course the company acquires specific sensors from the market, and then develops the dedicated sensor system providing algorithms and packaging, to ensure optimal integration with the Rooster. In the case of the warhead Robotican provides the ignition system, that will be operated remotely from the Ground Control Station (GCS)and the safety procedures, the HE or shaped charge being provided by third parties, the Rooster becoming in this case a suicide robot.
Communications are obviously a key element, especially when operating indoor and in tunnels. “We use a very robust DTC communications link operating in the 2.1 – 2.5 GHz which, should the customer require it, can go up to a 128-bit encryption,” the Robotican VP Sales and BD tells us. The robot has a mesh capacity; a typical operation in a tunnel will see the first one carrying out the reconnaissance and find the access to the tunnel, then engaging it; when the GCS warns the operator that the link signal is low, the Rooster lands in the best position to observe, and a second robot is launched, which quickly overcomes the first one penetrating deeper in the tunnel, robot #1 acting as radio relay. When the GCS gives a further warning, the second robot lands, a third one being launched, going even further, so in the end the operator will have three different views of the tunnel, which allow him to monitor the situation. “We have AI-based algorithms installed on the Rooster that can automatically detect images and objects,” Mandy Rosenzwieg unveils, “and we can train the system to not only detect but also recognise images, objects, i.e. rifles, booby traps, faces, and this will much depend on data sets provided by customers,” he adds. All this considerably reduces the operator’s burden while speeding up the mission pace, which also provide evolved pixel changing warnings, EDR On-Line understood. The current Rooster configuration allows to link up to three robots, the limit being due to the bandwidth available, all broadcasted images being shown in icon at the bottom of the GCS, the operator clicking on the icon of the robot he wants to control.
Robotican provides a kit made of three Rooster hybrid unmanned vehicles and one GCS. These are contained in a 814 x 387.7 x 586.5 mm ruggedized case. A tactical backpack solution is also available; this has a base of 42×35 cm and is 53 cm high, has a total mass of 8.4 kg when loaded with the Rooster kit, the sack being fitted with foam protections to avoid breakage during transport. EDR On-Line understdood that two of the robots are carried at the bottom of the backpack, disassembled, and can be ready in one minute time, while on top we find the two elements that allow to take immediate action, the GCS and one robot fully assembled and ready to be launched.
Other accessories allow the commander to watch live the same video feed received by the operator, and eventually guide him during the mission. The video stream can also be forwarded to a higher level command post using the LiveU streamer integrated in the GCS, which can exploit either cellular links or SATCOM.
For training purposes a the system can be completed with the Sphera full training simulation software developed by Robotican.As said, Robotican issued a press release announcing the selling of several dozen Roosters to European special operations forces, intervention units, and infantry teams, which led to the achievement of the NATO Stock Number, a further step to increase penetration on the export market.
While actively promoting its Rooster, Robotican is not sleeping on its laurels, the Israeli company already marketing its Goshawk anti-UAV flying drone, and is also looking forward to new solutions, one of these being a wholly new system that will enable flying a full fleet at the same time, the company currently investigating new communications solutions providing much greater bandwidth.
Photos courtesy Robotican
[1] According to Robotican, when flying a UAV inside a building with unprotected rotors, only one out of five survives the mission.