Eyewitness News 4 at 6
KOB (NBC) Albuquerque, NM DMA: 44
06:16PM MDT May 20 2008
Programming Type: News

the two lawmakers have been working together on a bill to improve health coverage for the mentally ill. it's rodeo-time in los alamos...and a special three- day event is drawing four top teams from northern new mexico. but it's not your typical rodeo. santa fe bureau chief ray seva shows us how police officers are competing in the "western national " robot" rodeo." nats-- robot moving up ramp no bull-riding or lasooing at this rodeo. instead, police bomb squads from los alamos, santa fe, the state police and the los alamos lab are competing to see who are the best robot- masters--and a chance to show- off all that classroom knowledge to judges. "most of these guys can drive a robot and shoot at a bomb somewhere. this gets them to think outside the box and get them to do things that they don't ordinarily do." lots of joysticks, toggles, buttons...kind of like an advanced- level remote controlled toy. "it's pretty complicated. and you've gotta do everything through the monitor that you see there." while it may be fun, drills like this one serve a purpose. "keep going. let it go." nats--dragging dummy the teams had to rescue injured firefighters from a train derailment and catastrophic explosion--a situation where in real-life rescuers might not be able to send-in humans to save the day. "it's an expensive piece of equipment, but it can be replaced. and it agging dummy again in los alamos, ray seva eyewitness news four this is the second year of the " robot rodeo." the organizers are looking to invite bomb-squads from all over new mexico and other western states next year.