Patent ID: 7896113

Claim:
A robotic system adapted to deploy from a police vehicle onto a street for inspecting an interior of a suspect vehicle, the robotic system comprising: a robot unit comprising: a robot base having a pair of track elements driven by a motor element responsive to a control unit having a robot transceiver; a camera for capturing images of the suspect vehicle; an extendable arm operably attached to the robot base to support the camera; an arm actuator for controlling the extendable arm, for raising the camera from a lowered position adjacent the robot base, to a raised position in which the camera is raised above the robot base to a height for inspecting the interior of the suspect vehicle; a control unit for operably controlling the pair of track elements, the arm actuator, and the camera; and a remote control unit adapted to be operably positioned within the police vehicle, the remote control unit being adapted for operably controlling the control unit of the robot unit; a carrier unit comprising: a mounting base that is adapted to be mounted on the police vehicle; a carrier housing having a floor element with a generally planar top surface, side edges, and a forward edge, the floor element being sized and shaped to receive the robot unit thereupon; a pair of pivots that pivotally mount the carrier housing onto the mounting base such that the carrier housing can pivot between a raised position wherein the top surface is generally vertical, and a lowered position wherein the top surface is generally horizontal and wherein the forward edge is adjacent the street so that the robot unit can be driven onto the top surface; and a locking element for locking the robot unit onto the top surface; a docking camera operably positioned adjacent the carrier unit for capturing images of the robot unit as it approaches and operatively engages the carrier housing; and a primary display adapted to be operably positioned within the police vehicle for displaying the images of the suspect vehicle from the camera of the robot unit, and/or the images of the robot unit from the docking camera.