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New Fort Smith Bomb Squad Robot Gets A Name

FORT SMITH (KFSM) — Students at one elementary school had a special visitor today from the bomb squad at Fort Smith Fire Department – but they weren’t res...

FORT SMITH (KFSM) -- Students at one elementary school had a special visitor today from the bomb squad at Fort Smith Fire Department – but they weren’t responding to a threat.

With Thanksgiving break about to start for Ballman Elementary students, it seemed like a normal time for an assembly.

"I thought it was going to be a regular assembly actually,” sixth-grader Clayton Hartwig said, but this assembly had a special guest: a bomb-detecting robot.

Students in Sebastian County took part in an essay-writing competition to name the robot. Battalion Captian Skip Matthews said it was difficult to choose a winner. Squeezy, Red Rover and Athena were a few of the names entered in the competition.

Aaron Croxton submitted a name too.

"Hercules was just a name that popped into my head,” Croxton said.

The Fort Smith Fire Department already has one robot, named Gracie. The new robot is smaller, so it can get into hard-to-reach places and assist Gracie, which has been working with the department since 2006.

The robots have features like cameras, lights, night vision and special weapons.

"It's just a tool. It goes down, investigates, x-rays, and we can disrupt a package by using the robot,” Matthews said.

Ana Bello, a 4th grader, thought of the winning name.

"Like in Curious George, I just thought about the monkey -- so I just named it George,” Bello said.

After Ana got her plaque from George, it was time for students to head back to class. George exited the auditorium with dozens of students clapping and waving goodbye.

Matthews said the robots are used about 50 times a year to detect bombs, and each cost about $200,000. Both of the robots were paid for by grants from the Department of Homeland Security. The Fire Department said every bomb squad in the country must have a robot in order to be accredited by the FBI.

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