- An automated defense ring is a technology in the Generation 1 continuity family.
A grill structure, possibly a rigid one
An automated defense ring is a type of unnamed security system designed to discourage interlopers. The ring asks a series of trivia, logic or fill-in-the-blank questions (like those regarding the Axustian creature, for example), with lethal consequences if you guess wrong.
This system does not absolutely prevent unauthorized personnel from passing through the ring, it just makes it very difficult. This is a security trade-off, but unlike a more strident system, you cannot accidentally lock yourself out, as once happened to the Autobot Earthforce.
Original British English spelling: Automated defence ring
Fiction
Marvel Comics UK continuity
Earthforce
(The black and white backup stories in the later UK comics are of uncertain canon relative to the rest of the UK comics continuity.)
Ironhide used his experience with automated defense rings to penetrate the one surrounding the Constructicons' attempt to rebuild Devastator and destroy the project. Desert Island Risks!