Got a bomb? Found a suspicious package?
Call "Big Al."
The 670-pound friend of the police has nerves of steel. Actually, they’re stainless steel and aluminum. They come standard with a Remotec Andros F6A.
Big Al, a robot that has a way with explosives, is the long-awaited and newest recruit for the area’s Interagency Bomb Squad.
"I’ve been waiting my whole life for this thing. Anything that keeps my hands off potentially explosive devices is cool," said Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office bomb technician detective Al Baker.
Big Al is a mean, high-tech machine.
The remote-controlled robot is equipped with four cameras and is tethered to a 1,600-foot fiber-optic cable. Baker, seated safely inside a trailer, can maneuver his namesake from a control board and watch the robot’s every move from a monitor.
With his claw, Big Al can grasp suspected pipe bombs, old fireworks or suspicious materials and cart them off to a safe location, where he can shoot water or a metal slug to "disrupt" the explosive.
"The joy of having this is we don’t have to approach the explosive, and it’s a hoot to drive," Baker said.
Big Al can climb stairs and scrunch down to creep under a car. He’s fast, too. He can roll up to 3 1/2mph, Baker said.
Big Al isn’t just for explosives. He is strong enough to drag a downed police officer out of harm’s way, and can roam through a methamphetamine lab and report back what kind of chemicals are inside. He can roll through a rioting crowd and toss tear gas.
Get him a large pepperoni pizza with extra cheese, and Big Al can deliver it to a kidnapper holed up with hostages.
"I bet I can get him to do windows, too. Just get me a squeegee," Baker said.
Baker, a 20-year bomb technician, can’t hide his excitement over the newest member of the squad. "I couldn’t sleep the night before it came, I was so anxious," he said.
What’s the price for peace of mind? A cool $143,000.
Big Al was paid for with a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Four other robots also were delivered in December to counties around the state.
"He’s made of steel, aluminum and money. Lots of it," Baker said. "It was really expensive, but we know how important it is for our safety."
Baker said the most current FBI statistics, from 1999, show that Washington has more calls for explosives than any other state.
"We have some of the busiest bomb squads in our country," he said.
The Interagency Bomb Squad is made of up of technicians from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, the Everett Police Department and the Washington State Patrol, and serves nine counties. The squad went out on about 120 explosives cases in 2003.
Not even a month on the job, the battery-powered robot made his debut late last month in Sultan after someone placed a black-powder bomb under the windshield wiper of a pickup outside a convenience store.
"We drove it over, picked it up and disrupted it," Baker said. "We were in and out."
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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