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Officers practice using the robotic rifle RELATED VIDEO CNN's Rick Lockridge reports on a civilian high-tech weapon Windows Media 28K 80K The accuracy of TRAP gives even gives trainees confidence Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

March 5, 1999
Web posted at: 10:09 a.m. EST (1509 GMT)

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Police in the line of fire must make life and death decisions in the blink of an eye. Now, an innovative robotic rifle could give them more time and options, and possibly save their lives.

The Telepresent Rapid Aiming Platform (TRAP) is a marksman's dream. The remote-controlled weapon never has jitters under pressure, and can place every shot right on target. But what California police officers evaluating TRAP really like is that the crab-like contraption can take their place in the line of fire.

"My number one concern is, I don't want to see any of my officers get hurt," says Sgt. Don Sloan of the San Francisco Police Department.
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The TRAP can be placed out in the open while the controller remains safely behind cover.

"Telepresent" technology, according to inventor Graham Hawkes, gives human operators the ability to see, hear and feel their way through hazardous environments from a safe distance.

"We just decided that air space punctuated by bullets was a dangerous environment," Hawkes said. "And it was pretty silly to send flesh and blood in there, so it was a good application for a remote."

TRAP's eyes are two cameras. One, with a wide-angle lens, gives an observer a view on a television monitor. Another, the gunscope camera, magnifies the targeting site by a factor of nine.

Motors called "actuators" are TRAP's muscles, enabling it to track targets side to side and up and down. Guided by chips and buzzers, a thumb-operated joystick allows an officer to aim.

The TRAP uses cameras to locate a target

In a demonstration, the gun blows up small orange targets with precision. Highly skilled snipers can almost match the shots, but introduce stress, cold, fatigue, and their ability plummets, Hawkes says. TRAP, however, "is just unbeatable," he says. ( 431 K/20 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

In just one training session, sharpshooters can become proficient enough with the tripod-mounted assault rifle that they aim and fire accurately almost as quickly as the old fashioned way.

"That's incredible. I mean, you work on this thing for about ten minutes and you've got it," says one police officer.

In one simulation, TRAP's accuracy encourages one trainee to attempt a head shot even though the "hostage" is perilously close. The video monitor camera quivers when the "shot" discharges, smack in the middle of the cross hairs.

Sloan, too, is impressed by TRAP's pinpoint accuracy. "You could hit a 50-cent piece at 100 yards consistently," he says. A decorated sharpshooter and member of the city's Special Operations team, Sloan says the TRAP might prove even more useful in surveillance.

"In fact the last thing I see this used as is as a lethal device," he says. "I see it more as an information gathering device."

The view through TRAP's 9x scope

TRAP has attracted interest, mostly from police departments. Yet Hawkes says the technology may better serve prisons, military bases and other sensitive areas with large perimeters where several TRAPs, monitored by one person, could take the place of human guards. The Air Force has expressed strong interest, he says.

The robo-rifle has some limitations. In fluid situations, like a bank robbery gone sour in which criminals shoot it out with police, the immobile TRAP would be at a distinct disadvantage. And in the case of the recent police shooting of an unarmed immigrant in New York, the officers, who were searching for a criminal suspect, would not have likely carried around a 35-pound device or have had time to set it up.

But Sloan thinks TRAP has enough potential to justify its $47,000 price tag. "It's useful and can save lives. 'What's a life worth?' is what I'm looking at," he says.

Police special forces in San Francisco and Los Angeles could soon find out. They will conduct a three-month test using TRAP on their streets.

Correspondent Rick Lockridge contributed to this report.

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