PNP to acquire more bomb disposal robots

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Police (PNP) plans to acquire more bomb defusing machines to further improve its operational capabilities against terrorism.

PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa made the announcement as he expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the Makati City police and students of Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) in creating “Inspector Mac,” a remote-controlled bomb disposal robot.

Verzosa met Inspector Mac, an acronym for Mechanical Anti-terrorist Concept, a mechanical device jointly designed and conceived by the police and Mapua engineering students to pick up explosives and defuse them away from crowds.

“I would like to congratulate the men and women of the Makati City Police Office as well as the engineering team of the Mapua Institute of Technology for putting together Inspector Mac, which has brought pride and honor not only to the PNP but to the country as well,” Verzosa said.

“This will significantly help us in our anti-terrorist ops especially in the retrieval and the investigation of bombs.”

Verzosa said he is hoping that Mapua would produce another robot and put this to use in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

Verzosa called on all police units nationwide to emulate the innovative spirit of the Makati City police led by Senior Superintendent Gilbert Cruz.

Inspector Mac, designed as a bomb retrieval and disposal mechanical tool, won the Gold Medal Award in the recently concluded 1st World Cup on Computer Implemented Invention in China.

The Philippine team led by engineer Roel John Judilla personally received the accolade, outperforming 40 other inventions from 22 countries worldwide.

Cruz, for his part, said Inspector Mac is unique because it is entirely made of local materials worth a total of P400,000 to construct.

“Not a single component was imported, and the robot was put together by an all-Filipino team of engineers from Mapua, the country’s premier engineering school,” Cruz said.

Verzosa said he will task the PNP’s Directorate for Research and Development “to probably put up now a formal area for research and development pertaining to inventions like this and also in relation to the existing equipment that are available to the PNP.”

“So we will now probably be putting up a research facility to test all of these to further enhance our technical capabilities,” he said.