A U.S. robotics firm has sent four robots to Japan to help recovery efforts at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
A U.S. robotics firm has sent four robots to Japan to help recovery efforts at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The robots sent by iRobot Corp. of Bedford, Massachusetts, are two PackBot models and two Warrior models.
The U.S. military has used the PackBot to detect explosives and conduct other missions in Afghanistan and other conflict zones.
iRobot, founded in 1990 by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is known for its Roomba home vacuum cleaner robot.
The Warrior is capable of carrying objects 100 kilograms or heavier, according to the company. Officials said the Warrior can work as a robot firefighter because it can transport fire hoses and other heavy equipment.
The missions of the robots at the Fukushima nuclear plant, which was hobbled by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, have not been decided, according to the company.
But officials said they expect the robots will probably carry out monitoring activities and detection of hazardous materials.
The U.S. company has also sent six employees. Japanese engineers are expected to operate the robots under the instruction of those employees.
(This article was written by Ichiro Matsuo and Ryoma Komiyama.)