The British Army has awarded a £60m contract to Northrop Grumman to supply military troops with a new bomb disposal robot by 2011.

The Cutlass unmanned explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) vehicle offers the latest technology in a modular design and allows the user to deal with the full range of both military and improvised explosive devices.

The Cutlass system incorporates a wide range of payloads, sensors and tools. The robot also incorporates powerful cameras, which can be used to automatically change the tool on the end of its extendible manipulator arm without human intervention.

The robot’s joystick is equipped with a state-of-the-art gripper and has nine degrees of freedom for greater movement and agility.