Iran Military Forum

This was seen on the IEI website and is the first (at least to my knowledge) Iranian UGV.

It's fairly conventional design with twin treads and apparently designed for observation, like certain models of the 'Packbot' that has gained so much fame in Iraq.

I think it's interesting, even if it's only just still in the development and prototype phase.

The next logical step in this development would be to increase the size of the robot as a whole (something closer to packbot size), and put the camera on a boom so the FOV isn't restricted to 10 cm off the ground.

Maybe small ones are useful to give coordinates for bombing. It would be nice if it can dig itself in to be less visible.

It might not even be military-exclusive, these type of robots can also be used by emergency teams in SAR work like if a mine collapsed, or someone is trapped in a sewer. It's not the best design as it lacks multiple treads which allow it to go up and down things, but like it's possible military application, it's a start.

Something with mechanical feet that can dig itself in at daytime and come out at nighttime to give coordinates of enemies' positions would be a nightmare for the enemy forces.

Having something walk is incredibly difficult, Iran's civilian team was only just able to make a walking robot that can move extremely slowly.

Having a laser designator on it would be useful.

Maybe they can make it spin in place so it can dig itself in. If only the camera is visable, it will very hard to find it. Camouflage helps a lot too.

I'd be impressed with something like this - this is a Russian UGV, extremely simple with an unmanned weapons station - but like the others, short ranged

A small robot could hypothetically travel as far as it's fuel allowed, but it would need large tracks (or wheels) in order to navigate any obstacles or go on any worse terrain then a paved highway as well as, as you point out, a larger body to store the fuel, but also to house a larger engine because a long range means nothing if it can only crawl by at 7 km/h.

Another problem holding back development of long range UGV's is reliability, what if it breaks down when it's 100 km away? You just cant send someone out to repair it in half an hour. Also, as with Iran's UAV's, there's the problems of communication with the unit, which has been addressed elsewhere on this forum (in the other UAV threads for anyone who hasn't already seen it). This is why i think they'll remain limited to the tactical realm at least for the short-term future.

One day i hope to see roaming gangs of tank-killer drones hunting down unmanned tanks with swarms of UAV's flying overhead. Although, one might worry this might make those with the drones all the more inclined to wage wars on those that don't possess this capability  - "We shan't have to leave our fortress now when we want to blow up civilization" - Hank Morgan in Mark Twains "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court"

From a police exhibit:

I was perusing Military.ir when I came across photos from IPAS 2008:

It's another tracked UGV with what appears to be an EO-payload taken from a helicopter or other airborne platform.

lol, good catch