BOSTON -- After losing a son in Iraq to a roadside bomb, a local father has made it his quest to protect other soldiers in the field.

Dad On Safety Quest After Son's Iraq Death

NewsCenter 5's Jack Harper reported that Brian Hart has developed a robot that can disable bombs.

"In April 2005, we watched a lance corporal push a car bomb off a road with his armored vehicle. Both were blown up," Hart said.

For Hart, it's personal. His son, John, was killed in Iraq in 2003. Before he died, John Hart told his father about the need for more armor and better equipment.

Three years after starting Black-I Robotics in Tyngsborough, Hart and his team have a government contract to continue developing the LandShark -- a 400-pound dynamo that costs about a third as much as robots currently in the field.

"I want it to be cost effective so that a lance corporal or a private can get his hands on this equipment and do it in the near term, not in 20 years," Hart said. "The Marines have made it clear to us that they need a product to be simple and repairable in the field. So these tools right here are all that is required to maintain it in the field."

The robots use an Xbox video game control system, so anyone who plays video games can learn to handle the powerful unit, Hart said.

The Logan International Airport bomb squad will test the robot.

Hart hopes the robot will help evacuate injured soldiers, dismantle car bombs and go anywhere soldiers shouldn't.