In the days after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, the Japanese government sent robots into contaminated reactors and turbines to survey damage, measure radiation and move hazardous debris.
Robots also sifted through rubble after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, and disarmed or detonated explosives in Afghanistan.
But the promise of such machines to aid in the prevention or aftermath of disasters is still rudimentary. They’re limited in the ability needed to navigate terrain cluttered with wreckage, manipulate an unpredictable array of objects and maintain remote connections in extreme conditions, among many other challenges.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to change all that. And it’s putting up the money to make it happen.
Read also:
Robot vs. robot (Santa Rosa Press Democrat)
Robot Team Returns Home (BlackburnNews.com)
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