Toshiba unveils new robot to help in nuke disasters

PanARMENIAN.Net - Japanese technology giant Toshiba has unveiled a robot which the company says can withstand high radiation and help in nuclear disasters, Belfast Telegraph reported.

However, it remains unclear what exactly the new machine will be capable of doing if and when it gets the go-ahead to enter Japan's crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

The four-legged robot can climb over debris and venture into radiated areas off-limits to human workers. One significant innovation, Toshiba said, is that its wireless network can be controlled in high radiation, automatically seeking better transmission when reception becomes weak.

But the machine, which looks like a coolbox on wobbly metal legs, also appears prone to glitches. The robot made a jerky mis-step during a demonstration to reporters, freezing with one leg up in the air. It had to be lifted by several people and rebooted. The robot was also notably slow in climbing a flight of eight steps, cautiously lifting its legs one by one, and taking about a minute to go up each step.

With obstacles which are not as even and predictable as steps, such as the debris at the plant, it may need as much as 10 minutes to figure out how to clear the object, Toshiba acknowledged.

Nevertheless, Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said it might use the robot to inspect the suppression chamber of the Fukushima plant, where a devastating meltdown took place after a mammoth tsunami slammed into north-eastern Japan on March 11 2011.

Toshiba began developing the robot after the disaster with hopes that it would prove useful in helping to decommission the plant. No human has been able to enter the highly radiated chamber since the tsunami disaster.