- Title: JAPAN: The robot that could help clean-up at Fukushima
- Date: 6th December 2012
- Summary: KOBE, HYOGO PREFECTURE, JAPAN (DECEMBER 6, 2012) (REUTERS) MAIN GATE OF MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRY SIGN IN ENGLISH READING :"MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD." MITSUBISHI ROBOT CALLED MEISTER MOVING OVER SOME OBSTACLES TRACKS OF MEISTER ROLLING OVER OBSTACLES RIGHT ARM WITH ATTACHED DRILL BORE ROBOT APPROACHING CONCRETE WALL
- Embargoed: 21st December 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Disasters,Science
- Reuters ID: LVA8TR9VEH9ND22RGKF6V7E2Q1KU
- Story Text: A robot that operates under hostile conditions has been unveiled by Mitsubishi. They say the androids can be used to carry out repairs instead of humans at the leaking Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries unveiled their latest robot which can operate under hostile conditions on Thursday (December 6) in an attempt to replace humans who cannot enter the leaking Fukushima Daiichi power plant to carry out repairs, due to extreme levels of radiation.
The 440 kilogram crawler robot called MEISTeR, is armed with two sets of arm-mounted tools suited for different missions.
The robot can bore a hole of up to 70 milimetres in a concrete wall and extract a sample to test the degree of radiation that has penetrated the wall. Its seven-axis manipulator arm can fit into tiny spaces to shut or open valves and doors, a necessary task in a leaking nuclear reactor.
"Restoration efforts are happening at Fukushima now. We now know what the situation on the ground is, relatively speaking, and we are planning to work on decontaminating the area. It is also an area where people cannot come and go with ease so we plan to have this robot replace humans when working in such an environment," said Mitsubishi Heavy Industries nuclear energy systems general manager Jinichi Miyauchi.
It can also clear a path by slicing through metal bars with an interchangeable cutter.
Despite being home to the largest number of industrial robots in the world, Japan did not have a device capable of entering the damaged Fukushima nuclear facility after last year's devastating earthquake and tsunami. Instead Japan brought in U.S. robots to survey the extent of the damage inside the reactor buildings.
Last October, a crawling robot developed by the Chiba Institute of Technology lost connection with operators and was abandoned inside Fukushima's No. 2 reactor building.
But Miyaguchi says the role for robots in Fukushima has changed from observation and information gathering to actually replacing humans for manual tasks.
"Since we know the situation on the ground, we will need to start work. We will need a different type of robot compared to the ones we have now to do this sort of work. That means, among other things, being able to carry heavy loads and such and we think the Meister is suited to accomplish this goal," Miyaguchi said.
The MEISTeR which stands for "Maintenance Equipment Integrated System of Telecontrol Robot" has a top speed of two kilometers per hour, can carry up to 15 kilograms of equipment and can last for two hours on batteries. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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