Asahi newspaper reports that Japan has twice launched a project to develop robots which can play roles in case nuclear power plants have problems. The first project was launched in 1983 responding to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident in 1979. Although twenty billion yen was invested, the project was terminated in 1990. The other one was launched right after the Tokaimura nuclear accident in 1999. However, the projected lasted only a year. The reason why it was scraped was it was thought no more serious accidents could happen.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
iRobot Roomba and PackBot
These days, iRobot Roombas, which are vacuum cleaning robots produced by iRobot Corporation, often come up in conversation with my friends. Some who have one insist that Roombas are amazing and work better than expected. Some are seriously thinking about purchasing them. Some are intrigued by them. Are Roombas popular in your country?
Speaking of iRobot Corporation, another kind of robot "PackBots" are playing a role in the crippled Fukushima nuclear plants. When it was announced that PackBots would be introduced there, I was wondering if there were no Japanese robots which could play roles there despite Japanese manufacturers having a high global market share of industrial robots. According to WSJ, like me, a lot of people worldwide were wondering if Asimo, which is produced by Honda, could play a role in the Fukushima plant. I've heard that American robots were introduced since they have experience in playing roles in battle fields whereas Japanese ones have no such experience.
Asahi newspaper reports that Japan has twice launched a project to develop robots which can play roles in case nuclear power plants have problems. The first project was launched in 1983 responding to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident in 1979. Although twenty billion yen was invested, the project was terminated in 1990. The other one was launched right after the Tokaimura nuclear accident in 1999. However, the projected lasted only a year. The reason why it was scraped was it was thought no more serious accidents could happen.
Asahi newspaper reports that Japan has twice launched a project to develop robots which can play roles in case nuclear power plants have problems. The first project was launched in 1983 responding to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident in 1979. Although twenty billion yen was invested, the project was terminated in 1990. The other one was launched right after the Tokaimura nuclear accident in 1999. However, the projected lasted only a year. The reason why it was scraped was it was thought no more serious accidents could happen.
