This week in robots: Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant edition

April 19, 2011
Scott
Technology

iRobot does much more than keep your floors clean. They also manufacture the PackBot, a small teleoperated UGV designed to be rugged yet effective. Most recently, PackBots have been deployed to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan to measure radiation and assess damages. Remote controlled UAVs and construction equipment have also been deployed to aid in the cleanup and containment. An interesting departure from Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) and counter-insurgency applications.

Scott

Hi, I’m one of the founders of Nerd Appropriate and the Rated NA podcast.

This Post Has 3 Comments

helloscientist April 19, 2011 at 1:36 pm

This is cool stuff. Now we just need to start utilizing the Big Dog robot. Then come the T-800’s. I’m a big fan of robots, I just hope they don’t come after my job.
Ash April 20, 2011 at 11:58 am

That robot “Big Dog” Is the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. I wish it had some sort of rudimentary AI that allowed a little bit of creepy robot speech to trickle out.
helloscientist April 20, 2011 at 4:22 pm

Creepy or not, it is some pretty amazing technology. We are mere steps away from Battlemechs. Can’t wait!