NASA Robotics Technology is Being Used at Fukushima Nuclear Plant

NASA technology is being put to good use at the site of the Japanese nuclear power plant disaster. The design techniques that were used by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena in California were used for the Mars rover are the same design now being used inside the nuclear reactors in Japan in areas that are not yet safe for human crews to visit.

The iRobot company PackBot uses technological designs that were used by the Jet Propulsion Lab in Rocky-7 which served as a terrestrial test bed for the current twin Mars rovers known as Spirit and Opportunity. The PackBot has similar structural features to the Rocky-7 and these include the lightweight, high-torque actuators that control the rover and its strong, lightweight frame structure and sheet-metal chassis. The JPL was also responsible for the intelligent robot’s onboard sensors and vision algorithms. These allow the robot to determine and navigate obstacles on the path.

The PackBot also takes some features from another urban reconnaissance robot called Urbie which was used for military and disaster response applications. The light weight structure and rugged features that made the Urbie useful in emergencies were designed by the iRobot Corporation in Bedford Massachusetts. The iRobot company then upgraded Urbie to PackBot and has delivered variations to the US defence forces for use in tactical places. They were even deployed in Afghanistan in July 2002.