To you or me, a monorail is a way to get around an airport, or a theme park. To a group of Israeli and German engineers, it's a high-tech defense, scanning for intruders.

Linceus GmbH is looking to turn miniature monorail cars into camera-equipped sentries, zipping around at nearly 50 miles per hour. And unlike human guards, *Defense News' *Barbara Opall-Rome reports, these rail-riding robo-watchers are "impervious to bad weather; operate around the clock;

and come equipped with dazzling spotlights, high-decibel acoustics and other nonlethal means of warn­ing the unwitting." A demonstration at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion Airport is planned for next week.

The sentries are outfitted with a thermal and standard camera; laser pointer and laser rangefinder are optional. "Video, voice and oth­er data are broadcast through em­bedded cable on the rail, which also provides the electricity powering the rider’s engine and onboard sub­systems," Opall-Rome adds.

While optimized for independent operations, the robotic patrols also work in support of ground patrols and anti-infiltration squads. And in cases of extreme threats to sensitive border areas or high-value installa­tions, the system can be linked into external sensors and ground-, sea­ or air-based shooters... [If a facility is] penetrat[ed], the sensors are slaved inward to assist ground patrols in search-and-dis­able mission.

The U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security already put cameras on blimps, on towers, even on ground robots, to watch over borders and military bases. The results have been... well, uneven. High-powered G-Boss lenses have been credited with finding bomb-planters in Iraq. But a prototype "virtual fence" along the Arizona-Mexico border has flunked, badly. Costs to further build and maintain the system range from from $300 million to $1.7 billion per mile, depending on materials," according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. Linceus says its system could prove to be a better, more cost-effective border defense. But would building a monorail, around Montezuma Peak and Nogales and Black Knob be any cheaper? Sounds to me like them should stick to airports and family attractions.