Polish Balsa Robot Received by the Army

The robot has been delivered along with the ZCzZ spare parts package and ZON maintenance and repair kit. Further deliveries of the “Balsa” systems are expected to take place, in line with the agreement, by the end of June, 2017 and 2018.

Delivery of the systems is one of the stages of implementation of the agreement signed by and between the Armament Inspectorate and the Industrial Research Institute for Automation and Measurements (PIAP), pertaining to procurement of 53 engineering robots which would provide support within the scope of EOD and IED missions, and in the process of executing the tasks related to removal and disposal of dangerous loads and materials. The programme is also known as BALSA – Light Reconnaissance Robot LRR.

The procurement contract defining the scope of the BALSA programme has been signed in May this year. The value of the deal is defined as PLN 15.6 million. The system qualified to be tested within the procedure is based on the Fenix robot, designed by the Industrial Research Institute for Automation and Measurements.

LRR has been designed to carry out reconnaissance operations in urbanized and open areas. The robot is going to be utilized by the engineering units, also for checking vehicles, aircraft and rooms, within the scope of potential presence of dangerous objects and hazardous materials, with the use of the applied daytime and night-vision cameras. Optional sensors are capable of detecting trace quantities of explosive materials. The manipulator allows the Balsa robot to uncover the hidden IED, UXO and EFP explosives.