After the devastating events that took place in Japan five years ago (earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident), its tech companies have been developing new, innovative ways to help with the aftermath, even after all this time.
The Fukushima nuclear plant site still suffers enormously from the damage and Toshiba is among the many companies willing to assist inside some of the damaged reactor buildings.
The company showed off a new robotic arm that it plans to use to remove fuel-rod assemblies from the fuel pool in the reactor 3 building at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. The device has two robotic arms that can pick up and cut debris and another that can grab the assemblies. It also has numerous cameras that allow the controller to view many angles of the site from far away, steering clear of danger,
Beginning next year, the remote-controlled device (that looks a lot like a crane) will begin extracting 566 fuel-rod assemblies.
Toshiba was inspired to develop the robot to clean up the debris form the disaster after Tokyo Electric Power Co. revealed that although it is trying to tidy up the site, it’s in no way possible for humans to watch over the day-to-day clean-up without being in harms way.
Toshiba demonstrated its robot for the Japan Times on Monday.
Watch the demonstration below.
Story and video via The Japan Times.
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