RATLER™ at the Sierra Army Depot

A Sandia National Laboratories RATLER™ vehicle named HAGAR was loaned in a technology evaluation program to the Sierra Army Depot near Reno Nevada for use in their open-pit munitions demolition activities. The open-pit detonation method sometimes results in 'misfires' where a pit stack was commanded to detonate from the manned command bunker but failed to do so. In the case of a misfire, which can occur due to either electrical or mechanical failures in the remote detonation system or the stack itself, the pit stack must somehow be inspected and rendered safe to approach before workers can re-rig the detonation/firing system.

Standard procedure for pit recovery after a misfire mandates a 'stand-down' wait time to ensure the pit does not detonate due to a 'slow burn' or a fire in the stack, and at some point in time a worker must approach the pit to remove the blasting caps and render the stack safe for approach by the rest of the crew. This is obviously dangerous and time consuming work and provided an excellent opportunity for a robotic system to improve efficiency and safety for the workers at Sierra.

The HAGAR system provided a way to immediately begin the recovery process by giving operators a view of the pit within a few minutes of a misfire. A planned enhancement to the HAGAR system was the addition of a simple cutter to allow a teleoperator to remove the blasting caps and drag them away from the stack, thereby rendering it safe to approach. Although the cutting system was not implemented before the 1 year evaluation period expired, the workers and HAGAR users at Sierra Army Depot had come to think of HAGAR as "just another member of the team," as essential to their operations as the demolition specialists and riggers.