It’s been almost two years since the disaster at Fukushima, but the surrounding area is still off-limits, and will continue to be for who knows how long. The town Namie-machi has been vacant since its evacuation on March 11, 2011, and now Google’s uploaded Street View images of the eerie, hollow shell that remains. More »
While there’s no doubt that the nuclear crisis in Fukushima back in 2011 could have been avoided, a recent discovery suggests that this week’s extended blackout was entirely out of their hands. Instead, the loss of power lies in the diabolical paws of a now deceased, foresight-lacking rat. More »
All of Japan took a few moments Monday to pay respect to the losses suffered in the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster of March 11, 2011. As human beings we move forward, and we work to find the good even in terrible situations. In that spirit, this piece is not a memorial, but hopefully a brief insight into how a terrible natural disaster has invigorated Japan’s robotics industry and brought to light a problem affecting all industrialized societies.
In the first hours and days, when it …
I think it’s definitely a good idea to try to replace some of the world’s nuclear power plants with clean and sustainable sources of energy. After the disaster at the Fukishima power plant, Japan has unveiled a plan to decrease its reliance on nuclear energy and move towards greater use of wind power.
To help with this transition, the Japanese Agency for Natural Resources and Energy plans to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm by 2020. It will be located near the current site of the now-defunct Fukushima nuclear power plant. The wind farm will have 143 wind turbines on floating platforms anchored to the sea floor. Once fully operational, the wind farm could generate up to a gigawatt of power.
This latest project is part of Japan’s initiative to become completely energy self-sufficient by 2040.
[via New Scientist]
Japan has quite had its fill of nuclear power, thank you very much. As the country rebuilds from the devastating 2011 tsunami and subsequent Daiichi power plant disaster, it’s looking toward alternate energy sources. Good call, minna-san. More »
We may not have had the wide variety of radiation-resistant robots we needed before Fukushima, but we’re certainly getting it now. Following Toshiba’s four-legged dogbot, Mitsubishi is rolling out their own four-tredded tankbot that aims to fix up a disaster site without sending anyone in. More »
When disaster strikes, there are places you—no human, really—wants to be. After the Fukushima disaster, for example, there was tons of fatally radioactive ground where no sane man would dare venture. And with inventions like Toshiba’s new quadroped, disaster-investigating robot, they wouldn’t have to. More »
The cleanup efforts at Fukushima’s nuclear facility are been peppered with robotics: packbots, a refitted TALON, even a UAV – but Toshiba figures it could use at least one more. The firm’s contribution is known only as the Quadruped walking robot, and it looks somewhat like Boston Dynamics’ AlphaDog. Shuffling along on four double-jointed legs, the Quadruped can traverse uneven terrain and stairs at 0.6 mph, and is capable of exploring uninhabitable and irradiated areas for two hours before requiring a recharge. A second robot rides on the Quadruped’s back, and can explore tight spaces for up to an hour when tethered to the its mentor. Toshiba is outfitting the duo with cameras and radiation dosimeters, and hopes to use them to help officials survey the damage in the plant’s deadlier corners. Check out the machine’s official press demonstration in the video after the break.
Filed under: Robots
Via: Gizmag
While it’s a shame that the Fukushima disaster could well have been prevented, you can only dwell on the past for so long. If Japan is to move on from this disaster, the Fukushima facility must come down. But how does one disassemble such a highly radioactive structure? One research team hopes the solution involves this new generation of radiation-shielding, strength-magnifying exo-suits. More »
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