"Rosemary", a new robot for Fukushima

July 12, 2012

Chiba school unveils new robot for work at Fukushima nuclear complex

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120712p2g00m0dm097000c.html

CHIBA, Japan (Kyodo) -- The Chiba Institute of Technology unveiled Thursday a state-of-the-art robot designed to perform tasks inside the highly contaminated reactor buildings at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, possibly from August.

Nicknamed "Rosemary," the robot dedicated for work at nuclear plants can transport much heavier objects than its predecessor robot "Quince" that was designed to assist in disaster control and has been used at the Tokyo Electric Power Co. complex since June last year to check inside the reactor buildings and take photographs, the school said.

At a media event, one Rosemary transported about 60 kilograms in weight, against Quince's maximum load of 10 kg, while another Rosemary equipped with a camera that can stretch up to 3 meters high so it can check pipework near reactor ceilings was shown to reporters.

The new robot "was enabled to perform difficult tasks because its movements have been stabilized," said Eiji Koyanagi, deputy director of the school's Future Robotics Technology Center. "I hope it will collect a lot of information" at the Fukushima complex, he added.