The Wheelbarrow is a remotely controlled robot designed by Lieutenant-Colonel 'Peter' Miller
in 1972 for use by British Army bomb disposal teams operating in Northern Ireland (321 EOD

321 EOD

321 EOD Squadron is a unit of the British Army responsible for bomb disposal duties in Northern Ireland.The unit was previously 321 EOD Unit Royal Army Ordnance Corps and was re-badged as a unit of the Royal Logistics Corps in April 1993, now part of 11 EOD Regt. With its Headquarters at Thiepval...

), mainland Britain (11 EOD Regiment

11 EOD Regiment

11 EOD Regiment is a regiment of the British Army's Royal Logistic Corps responsible for Explosive Ordnance Disposal . The unit is manned by Ammunition Technical Officers and Ammunition Technicians...

) and Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

. The Wheelbarrow has undergone several upgrades, the latest being the Wheelbarrow Revolution. The most notable feature in this model include the 360 degree arm which can be outfitted with various EOD attachments. The Wheelbarrow Revolution is also capable of climbing stairways.

The name came about because the prototype was built out of a wheelbarrow

Wheelbarrow

A wheelbarrow is a small hand-propelled vehicle, usually with just one wheel, designed to be pushed and guided by a single person using two handles to the rear, or by a sail to push the ancient wheelbarrow by wind. The term "wheelbarrow" is made of two words: "wheel" and "barrow." "Barrow" is a...

 and a lawnmower.
Although Colonel Miller was responsible for the early design of the EOD Wheelbarrow up to the Mark 5, the project was then taken over by ‘Lofty’ Pattinson MBE with the assistance of Dennis Fry BEM and Peter J N Smith (who worked with Colonel Miller and "Lofty" with the mechanical and electrical systems build Mark 3 to Mark 8 prototype) then Cyril Luger and Rod Crane progressed the onward design Mark 7 to Mark 8 which took several years. Liaison with the EOD teams in Northern Ireland ensured that the latest innovations were incorporated as time went on and this ensured that lives and property were at minimal risk caused by improvised explosive devices.