Toshiba nuclear robot can’t make it through demo
(Credit: Toshiba)
Japan is again trying to field some more robots to work at the heavily damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, but this walker from Toshiba froze during a press demo.
Tetrapod is a quadruped designed to withstand high levels of radiation, but it couldn’t seem to take the glare of cameras.
The wireless remote-controlled machine recalls Boston Dynamics’ BigDog robots, with legs than can tackle uneven terrain. It can carry up to 44 pounds of equipment and has an onboard camera and dosimeter.
It’s designed to survey the plant’s highly radioactive buildings and debris, and can apparently withstand a 100 millisievert environment for a year.
As seen in the vid below, it has a folding arm that can deploy a second, smaller robot with a camera to image tight spots and key equipment.
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