ROCK ISLAND, Illinois-- This group of high schoolers learn the ins and outs of the Emergency Response Area for Rock Island County. And the gadget that steals the show is the Andross bomb squad robot.
"This is something that keeps a human from going closer to something that's questionable," says QC Bomb Squad Commander Randy Heisch.
The squad uses it to go in and remove suspicious objects that could explode.
"If it's something we want to move or felt we needed to move, we could do it with a robot which is better than one of us picking it up," says Heisch.
It's only used a handful of times in any given year, but it was needed last Tuesday at the Quad Citys International Airport.
The robot went in and took out a suspicious looking laptop computer from security.
"We used the robot because we felt that that was a safe approach, and it's very easy to operate. So we utilized that to take it to a safe place," says Heisch.
Once the computer was removed, it was scanned.
Turns out, the computer was harmless, but law enforcement say, better safe than sorry.
"The way the world has turned, that's an issue that we see on TV every night," says Heisch.
On Wednesday students use it like a toy, but tomorrow it could be the difference between life or death.
The robot is housed in Rock Island, but it's used by law enforcement on both sides of the river.