SENDAI--A research team from Tohoku University and other institutions has developed a robot capable of being sent aloft and surveying radiation levels inside the reactor building of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
SENDAI--A research team from Tohoku University and other institutions has developed a robot capable of being sent aloft and surveying radiation levels inside the reactor building of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The propeller-driven device, unveiled March 12, will be carried on a rolling robot, which can move through debris-filled areas. Both can be dispatched into highly radioactive areas where plant workers cannot enter.
Designed for use inside the Fukushima plant reactor buildings, the flying robot, weighing 2.6 kilograms, can withstand deadly radiation levels as high as 10 sieverts per hour.
The crawler robot it sits atop weighs 75 kg. Rolling on belts looped over the wheels, the robot can crawl around debris and up stairs.
It is controlled remotely using a 250-meter cable.
The project was commissioned by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy at a cost of 180 million yen ($1.5 million).