Credit: The Army Research Laboratory.
Army scientists designed and developed a realistic canine bite sleeve trainer to enhance the performance of military and civilian K9s. Military working dogs often play an essential role in military operations.
The dogs operate in a wide range of capabilities within the military, including security, patrol, explosives detection, tracking, search and rescue, guard, sentinel, and tactical tasks. Trainers use bite training on military working dogs to help restrain a perpetrator. You can also eliminate the need to use a weapon.
Dr. Stephen Lee, Principal Scientist, Army Research Office, an element of the Army Research Laboratory of the US Combat Capabilities Development Command, led the research on the bite sleeve and owns a patent For his job. Developed the product with students from the Wilson College of Textiles and the Senior Design Science and Materials Engineering courses at North Carolina State University in support of the US Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, Carolina. North.
“Military working dogs are a very important member of the team and their training is equally important,” said Lee. “These invaluable dogs have provided unmatched support by helping soldiers accomplish their mission and saving soldiers’ lives. This new bite sleeve training tool has greatly assisted in the development of effective combat canines.”
Most of today’s bite training sleeves are too bulky to hide, making it harder to train dogs for real-world scenarios. Other sleeves are made of materials like jute that does not provide a truly realistic training scenario and may reduce canine effectiveness on the target due to hesitation. Silicone bite products require the trainer to attach additional appendages to a sleeve that limits training scenarios, eliminating realistic concealment and possibly confusing the canine.
The new bite sleeve provides working military dogs with authentic human skin texture by biting into the forearm region and reducing the circumference of the target. This allows for a full mouth bite and a more realistic training scenario for canines.
The new bite sleeve provides working military dogs with authentic human skin texture by biting into the forearm region, providing a more realistic training scenario for canines. Credit: US Army
“Working with ARO on this project was an excellent experience for the students involved,” said Dr. Jesse Jur, an associate professor of textile engineering, chemistry, and science at the Wilson State College of Textiles in North Carolina. “They were all inspired to improve the skills of the military working dog. The goals of the project were challenging and required a multidisciplinary team effort from a materials and textile engineering perspective.”
When designing the product, a key aspect was to ensure the safety of both dogs and their handlers. The research team ensured that the selected materials were non-toxic to the dogs and that the selected materials were puncture-resistant for the handler.
The bite cover is made up of an external silicone skin combined with an internal leather cover. The skin is a patented prosthetic grade silicone product that looks and feels like human flesh and has an internal mesh support system for added strength. The inner sleeve is a low-profile bite platform constructed from pressure-dissipating foam and multiple layers of Kevlar fabric to allow for a full-mouth bite, and two adjustable straps allow for a custom fit for any coach.
The US Army Special Operations Command currently uses the bite sleeve to train.
Other inventors listed in the patent include Paul Reid, an ARO technical engineering assistance and systems assistance contractor, Dr. Albena Ivanisevic, an ARO program manager who worked on the technology while on college in the state of North Carolina, Soldiers from the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, North Carolina State University students and professors of Textile Engineering, Dr. Jess Jur and Dr. Russell Gorga, who were advisers to the design teams.
With Army funding, Campbell University researchers are further advancing the concept’s design, making skin even more realistic than artificial blood bleeds from biting. The Kinston Police Department successfully tested a prototype earlier this year.
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Provided by the Army Research Laboratory
Citation: Scientists develop realistic canine bite sleeve to enhance training (2020, July 29) retrieved on July 30, 2020 from https://phys.org/news/2020-07-scientists-realistic-canine-sleeve .html
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