The Massachusetts Police Force revealed the Black-I LandShark Series D at the Detroit Auto Show last week. The mini go-cart sized robot will be the newest edition to the Logan Airport’s domestic war on terror. Designed and manufactured by Black-I Robotics, a local company based out of Tyngsboro, the LandShark has been customized for the Logan International Airport bomb-squad.

“We made this robot faster, stronger and cheaper than anything else on the market, and in the next months we will focus on making it smarter,”

-Brian Hart, Co-Founder of Black-I Robotics

It took engineers four years to design and manufacture the Landshark Series robot. A single robot, like one deployed at Logan Airport, is estimated to cost a whopping $125,000 to manufacture. Luckily private funding and an $800,000 grant in a government contract secured in the 2008 Defense Appropriations Bill were able to foot the bill. According to Robert Hughes, Black-I Robotics Vice President, the robot can be guided by remote control at distances of up to a half-mile with its four cameras allowing operators to monitor the robot’s activities on a computer screen keeping loved ones out of danger’s way.

Co-founders of Black-I Robotics, Brian and Richard Hart, have worked to create technology keeping United States troops safe on the front lines since the death of Brian Hart’s son in a roadside bombing in 2003. Brian Hart has mentioned Black-I Robotics has sold different versions of the robot to the Navy and Department of Energy. He anticipates these robots being able to secure the perimeter of military bases at night so that soldiers do not have to conduct continuous rounds.