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Chapter 58 — Robotics in Hazardous Applications

James Trevelyan, William R. Hamel and Sung-Chul Kang

Robotics researchers have worked hard to realize a long-awaited vision: machines that can eliminate the need for people to work in hazardous environments. Chapter 60 is framed by the vision of disaster response: search and rescue robots carrying people from burning buildings or tunneling through collapsed rock falls to reach trapped miners. In this chapter we review tangible progress towards robots that perform routine work in places too dangerous for humans. Researchers still have many challenges ahead of them but there has been remarkable progress in some areas. Hazardous environments present special challenges for the accomplishment of desired tasks depending on the nature and magnitude of the hazards. Hazards may be present in the form of radiation, toxic contamination, falling objects or potential explosions. Technology that specialized engineering companies can develop and sell without active help from researchers marks the frontier of commercial feasibility. Just inside this border lie teleoperated robots for explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and for underwater engineering work. Even with the typical tenfold disadvantage in manipulation performance imposed by the limits of today’s telepresence and teleoperation technology, in terms of human dexterity and speed, robots often can offer a more cost-effective solution. However, most routine applications in hazardous environments still lie far beyond the feasibility frontier. Fire fighting, remediating nuclear contamination, reactor decommissioning, tunneling, underwater engineering, underground mining and clearance of landmines and unexploded ordnance still present many unsolved problems.

Views of robot control screen – Inspecting Fukushima powerplant

Author  James P. Trevelyan

Video ID : 582

This video shows multiple simultaneous camera views from a robot (possibly Quince) inside one of the Fukushima reactor buildings.

Promotional video of robot for cleaning up Fukushima

Author  James P. Trevelyan

Video ID : 583

Many companies have proposed new robots to help with the Fukushima reactor decommissioning process. This is one of many such promotional videos.

“Sukura” robot developed for reconnaissance missions inside nuclear reactor buildings

Author  James P. Trevelyan

Video ID : 584

This video shows a robot "Sakura" or "Cherry Blossom" developed by researchers at the Chiba Institute of Technology, creators of the successful "Quince" robot.

Controversial comments

Author  James P. Trevelyan

Video ID : 585

In this video from RT, the Russia-sponsored, English- language, news channel, Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear claims that radiation levels at Fukushima are "too high" even for robots, which is only partly true. He goes on to claim that "countless thousands of emergency workers died from radiation exposure", claims which are contradicted by a large WHO study published in 2005. Unfortunately, there are many videos with doubtful claims, and one needs to be careful in searching for evidence. This video has been included in the collection to remind researchers to be cautious when evaluating evidence available from public-domain, video sources.

HD footage of 1950s atomic power plants - Nuclear reactors

Author  James P. Trevelyan

Video ID : 586

Robot manipulators, mainly remotely controlled and operated by people, have been widely used in the nuclear industry since the 1950s. This video contains archival film footage showing operations using remote manipulators.

Radioactive material handling 1954

Author  James P. Trevelyan

Video ID : 587

This clip shows the use of a remotely-operated arm to protect a worker from nuclear radiation, taken from the 1954 film sponsored by General Electric, The Atom Goes to Sea 1954. The scene is at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Schenectady, New York. The entire film is available from the Internet Archive.

Nuclear manipulator, remote-handling equipment (1960)

Author  James P. Trevelyan

Video ID : 588

Demonstration video showing the pouring of a cup of tea – illustrates the dexterity of these popular manipulators which are ubiquitous in nuclear laboratories.

1961 nuclear-reactor meltdown : The SL-1 accident - United States Army Documentary - WDTVLIVE42

Author  James P. Trevelyan

Video ID : 589

This archive film, though long, provides graphic details on a relatively modest nuclear accident illustrating the difficulties that still face researchers working to provide robotic solutions.

Jean Vertut master-slave manipulator arms

Author  James P. Trevelyan

Video ID : 590

Jean Vertut (http://cyberneticzoo.com/teleoperators/1970-2-virgule-remote-controlled-manipulator-jean-vertut-french/), a French engineer, is widely credited with the best and most popular designs for remotely-operated manipulators used in the nuclear industry. Research on devices for nuclear applications is described in the chapter. Here are some other reference links: http://robotics.me.utexas.edu/index.html - research group working on robots for hazardous environments. In this video, one watches the fully automatic Port-Deployed Glovebox Manipulator: Pick and Place in operation. Compare the speed and dexterity of this device with the 1950s era remotely controlled manipulator arms mentioned above. It is hard for automatic devices to even approach the speed of manually-controlled devices, even today after 60 years of robotics research and development.

NanoMag magnetic crawler for remote inspection

Author  James P. Trevelyan

Video ID : 591

Promotional video for an inspection robot. This robot is clearly limited to working on magnetic surfaces.