It may look like it’s missing a rear axel, but a compact two wheeled surveillance robot may become a popular recon robot in the battlefield. The Recon Scout is described as a 2 1/2 pound “dumbell” which trails a camera and can be viewed by a handheld device which also acts as it’s controlled.

Developed the University of Minnesota, the Recon Scout is been based on Marine Corps specifications for ease of use (it can operate with just one hand after a brief charge of a few minutes) and is hardened with a titanium shell to be able to even be launched out of a mortar, or dropped from an unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle for a ground level point of view.

The Recon Scout’s camera isn’t really anything special, being a low-resolution monochrome camera, but it does wirelessly send video back to the Operator Control Unit from up to about 300 feet away. And the biggest advantage is that at since it weigh in at about a pound, it’s light enough to be carried as standard equipment in your basic troop pack, therefore allowing recon from an individual or from several troops to get a real lay of the battlefield ahead.

And it’s customers aren’t just the military. Recon Robotics has been selling the Recon Scout to law enforcement agencies since the beginning of the year for a hefty $6,500.

Your tax dollars at work.