Norwegian wire-suspended robot used for more realistic shooting practice moves to Denmark
Two Norwegian entrepreneurs and former soldiers have just moved the development of their military wire-suspended robot to Odense, after the Odense Robotics StartUp Fund has granted them space in the Danish Technological Institute’s coveted robotics incubator.
Here, they will further develop the robot that helps special forces, soldiers, and police hit the bullseye during a gunfight. The target becomes movable because it is mounted on a robot that can move back and forth on a wire. The robot can be mounted as long as it is possible to draw a two-dimensional line and connect two points.
“The robot can make a huge difference for soldiers and police forces throughout the NATO community. It’s already used today by the Danish and Norwegian Armed Forces to make shooting practice more realistic and equip the forces for real-life threat situations,” says Kenneth Skorpen, founder and CEO of BlinkTroll.
He has more than ten years of experience working in the Norwegian Armed Forces and has, among other things, been stationed in Afghanistan.
Illustration: BlinkTroll.
Shooting practice is absolutely essential for special forces, soldiers, and police officers, but the targets are usually static. It is therefore only in a real combat situation that many soldiers learn to shoot at moving targets.
“Soldiers not practicing shooting with moving targets is like traveling to my hometown Bergen in Norway for autumn vacation without rain gear. The consequences are just much greater,” Kenneth Skorpen says.
Movements can be programmed
The solution is a flexible system where targets are attached to a small mobile robot, which is tensioned on a rope or wire. The robot is operated wirelessly by an instructor via a tablet. The instructor can either control the target’s movements, or they can be pre-programmed. Several targets can also be mounted on the same wire.
“The idea came to me when I was in the Norwegian Armed Forces and had shooting practice with static targets. It was simply too far from the real world, where pretty much every threat you face is in motion. So, I started building BlinkTroll as a hobby project in my garage,” Kenneth Skorpen says.
The robot itself—the small box with electronics—and the motors sit barely two meters above the target itself. Therefore, as protection, an armoured plate can be mounted on the robot’s most valuable parts. However, the robot rarely gets hit, according to Kenneth Skorpen.
Today, there are also wheeled mobile robots that are used as targets for shooting practice. However, it is difficult to build mobile robots that can move on all types of terrain in order to simulate as many scenarios as possible.
“Outdoor terrain is uneven and unpredictable. Our system moves over water and marshland, rocks and other obstacles. Indoors, it requires two wall-mounted hooks, and it’s good to go. In training camps that are set up for urban combat, they can move between buildings and inside buildings,” Kenneth Skorpen explains.
Odense’s attractive robotics community
The product has already been sold to several European countries, including to some special forces in the Danish, German, and Norwegian Armed Forces. In addition, the robot has been sold to the police in Belgium and Norway, including in the inventors’ hometown, Bergen, where all new police aspirants train with BlinkTroll’s robot. So far, up to 1000 soldiers and policemen have trained with the BlinkTroll Moving Target System.
Illustration: BlinkTroll.
BlinkTroll has just been accepted by the Odense Robotics StartUp Fund, which gives robotics and drone startups from Denmark and abroad access to soft funding and a dedicated incubator environment at the Danish Technological Institute in Odense.
Through the Odense Robotics StartUp Fund, entrepreneurs are also matched with a number of leading mentors from the robotics industry.
It is precisely the prospect of working together with experienced robotics experts that is more attractive than staying in Norway, which otherwise has a strong military industry that, among other things, includes one of the world’s largest ammunition manufacturers.
“Hardware tech is not particularly trendy in Norway, and we don’t have a large entrepreneurial community. That’s why we’re moving to Odense to be part of the Odense Robotics StartUp Fund and the incubation environment at the Danish Technological Institute. Here, we can get help from some of the best in the Danish robotics industry to further develop our product and product range, scale it up internationally, and tap into the large robotics network here in Denmark. We can hardly wait to get started,” Kenneth Skorpen says.
Last year, Odense Robotics StartUp Fund was launched as a business fund with the aim of giving robotics entrepreneurs from Denmark and abroad easier access to capital and mentoring. The fund has initially raised DKK 18.4 million through donations from key figures from Denmark’s biggest robotics success stories, for example Thomas Visti, former co-owner of Universal Robots and Mobile Industrial Robots and guest investor in DR’s reality TV show Løvens Hule.
The fund’s objective is to invest in at least 30 startups over the next six years. The return will be reinvested in new startups.
“We are primarily moving to Odense because the city has a large robotics community, which is perfect for a technology company like us. We have sufficient knowledge of the product and the market in Europe, and we want to be in an environment with a focus on technology and growth. We don’t really need to be knocking on doors in Norway because our customers are in Europe,” Kenneth Skorpen says.
