Unseen areas are troublesome for police and first responders: Rooms can harbor dangerous gunmen, while collapsed buildings can conceal survivors or dangerous elements. Now Bounce Imaging is giving both officers and rescuers a safe glimpse into the unknown.
"Camera in the hole!" may be the new phrase police shout, as they toss the new Explorer camera orb into a dangerous room before entering.
Made by MIT alumnus at Bounce Imaging, the Explorer is a small, grenade-sized sphere full of cameras that first responders can throw into a space to get a preliminary view, MIT News states. When remotely activated, it assembles a panoramic image of what's inside a given area.
The rubber ball has a camera inside with six lenses to capture the scene inside a room and would then create a 360-degree panorama every second for their 30 minutes of run-time and transmit those photos remotely to a tablet or a smartphone. It works with both Android and iOS; according to Bounce Imaging.
The Explorer is priced a little under $2,500 and uses a near-infrared LED; on the other hand a basic version, targeted towards normal consumers, would sell for about $1,500 and uses white LED lights to illuminate a room. Both versions can be attached to a $20 pole if there is no need to throw it.
The Explorer provides unique advantages over previous devices used by first responders, allowing it to be used for special purposes. Rescuers can drop the Explorer into nooks and crannies that are otherwise inaccessible for larger tools but still capable of using its lights and camera to find trapped individuals. Furthermore, it would allow police to identify the positions of hostile gunmen or provide an alternative to flashbangs so that they don't accidentally burn anyone, like the baby that suffered facial burns earlier this year.
