RADDOG program record, 2022 to 2023

Chronological record of the RADDOG program from kickoff to production handoff. Summary page: RADDOG project page.

Context

Robotic Assistance Devices builds security robotics; ROSA (stationary observation) and ROAMEO (mobile patrol) were the established products. I joined RAD in May 2021 as a mechanical engineer and project lead. In April 2022 I originated the proposal for a quadruped security robot.

Kickoff, April 2022

Organized and prepared the kickoff package: project requirements and objectives, conceptual modeling, system architecture plan, preliminary bill of materials, project timeline.

Design challenges

Six problems dominated the engineering. Mechanical ruggedization for outdoor police duty. Performance against a fixed market cost ceiling. Environmental protection and unattended field charging. Component packaging against procurement lead times. Mass and thermal management, which trade against each other. Scope control across all three sprints.

MVP and demonstration

Delivered MVP prototypes for a public demo day. The demonstration succeeded, and the design review that followed secured funding for continued development.

Sprint 2, approximately 3 months

Proposed and negotiated the iteration plan. Simplified the system architecture. Ran a trade study on mass versus cost versus performance. Executed mechanical improvements for strength, assembly, and production. The BOM cost was deliberately increased for better materials and hardware, a more mature ruggedized design, and design-for-manufacturing, maintenance, and assembly.

Customer traction

Multiple successful demonstrations, including for the FBI, and national television appearances built commercial momentum. Pilot deployments identified the customer: RADDOG specialized as a law-enforcement utility robot, and that decision set the requirements for the final sprint.

Sprint 3, approximately 4 months

Requirements: adapt RADDOG for the law-enforcement environment and finalize the design for production. Delivered the product documentation, reworked BOM and packaging to the new requirements, executed final mechanical design improvements, and ran the production handoff.

Handoff, October 2023

RADDOG was handed off to the production team in Michigan and entered its production life cycle. RADDOG 2LE was subsequently delivered to the Taylor Police Department: the first robotic dog deployed to a US police department. Program duration: eighteen months. I am happy to walk through any layer of it in person.