Icor, the SPVM mine-clearing robot, is suffering from age. The device is having more and more difficulty climbing stairs, now requires assistance to accomplish certain tasks, has vision problems with its faulty camera and has limited autonomy due to weak batteries.
This is the harsh observation reached by the Brotherhood of Police and the members of the Tactical Intervention Group (GTI) of the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM), who are calling for the acquisition of a new robot.
The members of the GTI fear for their safety and that of the population, and threaten to exercise a right of refusal.
“The state of degradation and obsolescence of the mine-clearing robot endangers the safety of the police officers as well as that of the public. [Il] also jeopardizes the obligations of the SPVM as a municipal police force having to offer a level 5 service which includes a support service in terms of defusing and handling of explosives,” we can read in a notice from the Fraternity dated of February 13 to the attention of the General Coordination Committee for Health and Safety at Work, of which The Press got a copy.
The SPVM’s mine-clearing robot, an MK3 Caliber, was built in 2010 by the Canadian company Icor Technology. Simply nicknamed Icor by the members of the GTI, it is in its 14th yeare year of existence while its useful life should be seven to ten years, according to its manufacturer.
In 2020, the robot began to show signs of fatigue: its traction and track system weakened, so much so that it began to have difficulty climbing steps, its arming arm was damaged and its batteries had to be replaced. In March 2021, when the five-year warranty had expired, it was repaired at a cost of $17,000.
But the company Icor Technology then warned the SPVM that several parts are no longer manufactured and that it can no longer guarantee a high level of technical support for equipment built more than ten years ago.
Sand in the gear
According to a GTI report obtained by The Press, in February 2023, a grenade was discovered in a golf bag at Trudeau Airport. The mine-clearing robot was dispatched, but as it moved towards the mined sports equipment, communication between the operator and the remotely operated vehicle broke down. The policeman reactivated it, but it stopped again.
“During our exercises on the REM stairs, we noticed that it [le robot] began, after 2-3 steps, to tilt instead of going up in a straight line. Without the direct supervision of someone replacing it (which would obviously not be the case during a real intervention), the robot would have ended up rolling down the steps each time. [….] We also note that he now manages with great difficulty to climb back up the ramp allowing him to return to our truck,” we can also read in the report.
The less functioning control lever risks causing errors at critical moments when the robot is operating near a suspicious package. A desire to make the robot move delicately can result in it making a sudden gesture, which is never desirable in this context.
Extract from the report
“In certain circumstances, the GTI police officers even had to get physically closer to a suspicious package to repair the mine-sweeping robot which had broken down or which had capsized,” writes the Fraternity of Police Officers, which asks that the question of replacing the mine-clearing robot be on the agenda of the next meeting of the General Coordination Committee for Occupational Health and Safety.
Telemax to the rescue
Questioned by The Press, the SPVM management agreed with the need to acquire a new mine-clearing robot. But until this is done, she is reassuring and affirms that in the event of a problem, the mine-clearing robots of the Sûreté du Québec – nicknamed Télémax and Téodor – will be called to the rescue.
“Let us mention right away that our mine-clearing robot is functional. However, we are well aware that this is aging equipment and needs to be replaced. We have already taken steps to replace it and we hope that they will be completed as quickly as possible. Until then, if our explosives specialists ever found themselves faced with a problematic situation on the ground, we would have the support of the Sûreté du Québec, with whom we have agreements on this subject,” replied, in writing, a communications officer from the SPVM.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The SPVM mine-clearing robot
The SPVM mine-clearing robot has been used less than half a dozen times in 2023.
A Flex model, manufactured by the company Icor Technology, would cost around $290,000. Once the order is placed, it would take six to eight months for it to be delivered.
“In a city like Montreal, you have to be prepared for the possibility of the presence of explosives. So we must be equipped. There are two million people in Montreal. Due to the global context, we are not safe from attacks or suspicious packages in specific locations on the territory. We need a high-performance robot,” concludes the president of the Fraternity of Police Officers of the SPVM, Yves Francoeur.
To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.