All-seeing I-Ball gives troops remote skinny on the enemy

In the future, frontline troops could send robot eyes ahead of them to scope out dangerous situations thanks to a new Scottish invention.

The all-seeing device, known as the I-Ball, is intended to be thrown or launched by a mortar into areas of combat in order send back video to troops ahead of an assault, providing vital intelligence on enemy numbers and location.

The I-Ball features image stabilisation technology from its creator Edinburgh company Dreampact giving the army high quality video even when it's in flight.

The I-Ball has been picked as the winning entry in the Ministry of Defence's Competition of Ideas, a competition which asked UK industry to come up with technology to solve the MoD's "most pressing problems".

Paul Thompson, hardware engineer at Dreampact, told silicon.com: "A chap from the MoD told us there was money if [we] came up with a good idea so we came up with an idea, we didn't know if it was bonkers or a good idea - and they funded it."

"With the Competition of Ideas, you not only submit the idea but they fund it and you own it at the end of it, so it's a pretty good deal," he added.

The prototype I-Ball is wired but could equally be created to work with wireless networks including WiMax, Thompson said.

However, a wired model comes with one inherent advantage that its wireless counterpart does not: "You can pull it out again."

The company is now hoping to get the prototype into the hands of frontline troops.

"That's something we've very keen to do," he said. "What we really want to do is put it in front of [soldiers] and them say 'that's good, that's not good' and actually highlight want they want and what they don't want. That would be very useful for us," Thompson said.

Dreampact is currently looking for funding from the Ministry of Defence or industry to make the device commercially and with the right backing could take the I-Ball into production within a couple of years.

A concept picture of the I-Ball - the compartment will hold the device's battery.
Photo credit: Dreampact