Successful completion of Rugged Automated Training System (RATS) Phase II contract

Landmines represent a serious and lasting threat to public health throughout the world. Landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) cause severe injury, death, and duress, often denying people access to their homes and land. The fundamental goal of the RAT system was to train naive rats to detect and locate explosive odorants using Pavlovian conditioning procedures in specialized, automated operant chambers controlled by a portable computing base station. An emphasis was placed on system throughput, cost effectiveness, and ruggedness.

Extensive laboratory training was conducted using the RAT system over an 18-month period. The protocol to shape and condition the animals to perform a marking behavior in response to an explosive odorant was refined over this period, with significant improvements in performance and throughput observed throughout the project. The final group of rats required less than 32 days to complete the training phases and achieve all performance metrics.

In addition to landmine and UXO detection, other commercial applications for the RAT system technology include transportation and luggage security, disease detection, passenger screening, and laboratory research.