Foreign Object Debris detection and removal systems bring safety bots to the airports

When landing or taking off in a plane, the only things you want to see on the runway are lights and stripes. Foreign Object Debris (FOD), the stuff that can get sucked into engines or even flatten a plane's tires, has become the focus of several new technologies that are setting out to remove the bad stuff. Why do we care? Because some of these technologies call not only for little sensors mounted on runway lights, but also for robots that will cruise out, pick up the debris, and dispose of it as found in the Xsight system from Trex Enterprises. Others, like QinetiQ Airport Technologies' debris system, displays debris on screen at the airport's tower. Whatever the solution, we say: bring on the runway bots and safety.

[Samurai Jack @ Aug 9th 2008 3:35AM]

Just make sure you keep track of the bots themselves. They qualify as FOD too. Still, do what it takes to prevent the sort of tragedy we saw in Paris with Concorde.

[andres @ Aug 9th 2008 3:57AM]

i can see the headlines
"large swarm of robots takes down jet"

[Will H. @ Aug 9th 2008 4:42AM]

Debris on the runway is very dangerous. I have no doubt these systems, including their robots, will make runways safer. As always, robots can go where humans cannot.

Unfortunately in developing nations, airport maintenance is sometimes dangerously insufficient. I hope that systems like these can be deployed cheaply in areas where they are needed most.

[BirdofPrey @ Aug 9th 2008 6:48AM]

I imagine metal robots would cause more damage to the airplane than the other crap that might be laying on the runway.

Planes are made of aluminum. They don't like having steel sent through their engines

[Chris @ Aug 9th 2008 12:34PM]

The blades in the engine are titanium. That doesn't matter though because the bots would probably be made heavy enough so they couldn't be picked up by the intake. Also, they can be shaped so that the wheels of the planes would just push it out of the way if the bot happened to get in the way.

[Andrew @ Aug 9th 2008 3:38AM]

Now whats to prevent the bots from becoming debris? Imagine the swarm bots from yesterday getting sucked into a 747. Pretty hilarious

[A.C.E.R. @ Aug 9th 2008 4:32AM]

I must admit, death and carnage really is funny stuff. Thank gods for cable TV reruns of Worlds Most Hilarious Passenger Jet Crashes.

[Shinigami @ Aug 9th 2008 4:21AM]

Will those bots dispose of humans if found? Will they chase it if it tries to run away? Because, you know, Foreign Object Debris can be practically... anything.

[Shunnabunich @ Aug 9th 2008 10:13AM]

And remember, kids, that's FOD, not FUD. ;)

[Michael @ Aug 9th 2008 4:28AM]

Will they case the wheels of the plane, like my dog does to cars? Can they make a robot smarter than my dog?

[A.C.E.R. @ Aug 9th 2008 4:39AM]

If your dog does that then yes they can make a robot smarter than your dog.

[Samboini @ Aug 9th 2008 7:10AM]

Your dog is a retard.

[andres @ Aug 10th 2008 12:11AM]

why does your dog put car tires in cases?

[Link2877 @ Aug 9th 2008 4:29AM]

Cool so soon that one scene from irobot with the robots that cleaned the highway will be pretty common place then.

[Harry Wagstaff @ Aug 9th 2008 3:11PM]

irobot? Some sort of new product following the ridiculously popular trend of prefixing product names with a lowercase letter 'i' in order to make them more 'cool'?

Oh, you mean I, Robot, the film loosely based on Isaac Asimov's science fiction writings.

[Mark @ Aug 9th 2008 5:17PM]

iRobot is also a corporation that manufactures the Roomba, a robot vacuum cleaner.

Plus many other types of robots.

[Michael @ Aug 9th 2008 5:51AM]

Now that I think of it, does it get rid of foreigners?

[Will H. @ Aug 9th 2008 4:48AM]

Just a bit of information for everyone, by regulations, aircraft with more then 1 engine (most passenger jets) must be able to take off and climb with only 1 engine operating. FOD damage on takeoff is serious, but not necessarily terminal. Depending on the extent of the damage, and which systems it affects, FOD, especially damage from metal debris, has different effects.

I know this is going to sound stupid, but they should put a gun on it, so that it can shoot birds as well. Birdstrike at takeoff is also a dangerous prospect.

[Marc-O @ Aug 9th 2008 6:35AM]

There's a lot of crippling damage that FOD can do that doesn't have anything to do with engines...

[Rick @ Aug 9th 2008 9:49AM]

Tell that to the passengers on the Concorde and in the motel on the ground that FOD brought down taking off from CDG.

[Eric @ Aug 9th 2008 4:21PM]

"aircraft with more then 1 engine (most passenger jets) must be able to take off and climb with only 1 engine operating".

So that's not required for aircraft with only 1 engine?

[Plexyglazz @ Aug 9th 2008 5:49AM]

Guns on them?
Yikes, then what will happen when they become conscious in 2010?

[Joey @ Aug 9th 2008 6:57AM]

This reminds me of some kid who made something similar out of Legos... Maybe they stole his idea...

[olpmcg @ Aug 9th 2008 8:06AM]

Its M-O from Wall-E

[Galley @ Aug 9th 2008 9:03AM]

Humans make excellent FOD.

[Chase @ Aug 9th 2008 2:08PM]

I for one welcome our runway safety robot overlords

[xeon @ Aug 9th 2008 2:55PM]

FOD Stops Now!

[jon @ Aug 9th 2008 4:56PM]

great... imagine boring hackers making them view the plane as a Foreign Object!

[Snappy! @ Aug 12th 2008 4:45AM]

If they add the Maglev technology to a plane and have runways support maglev tech, then planes don't have to worry about bumpy landing or bursting tires ya?

Take off and landings could be smoother and safer too!

Take off Sequence:
1. Taxi to runway with undercarriage.
2. Power up Maglev
3. Rev up to take off speed
4. Power down Maglev once airborne

Landing Sequence:
1. Descend and power up Maglev
2. Land and lower undercarriage once taxing begins.
3. Power off Maglev once undercarriage engaged.

Undercarriage is there as backup and also to reduce the stretch of road that requires Maglev support.

[Fray @ Aug 12th 2008 4:13PM]

My two thoughts on reading this were:

1. If an FOD robot breaks down do the other robots then see it as FOD and "dispose" of it?

2. Sure they're cute and helpful now but just wait until the robot uprising when they will be armed and strategically placing FOD on the worlds runways to prevent our escape.