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Robotic Exoskeletons Could Help Nuclear Plant Workers
itwbennett (1594911) writes "ActiveLink, which is 80% owned by Panasonic, is building heavy-duty strength-boosting suits that the company says can help workers shoulder the burden of heavy gear and protective clothing and could be useful at nuclear plants. 'Our powered suits could be used to assist and support remote-controlled robots in emergencies,' ActiveLink President Hiromichi Fujimoto said in an interview. 'Workers could wear the suits to carry PackBots to their deployment point and to work in low-radiation areas.'"
Just use robots.
If your work is delicate or uncertain enough to require human intervention, just use humans. Oh wait, we can't, because we'll die.
Yeah, but someone's gotta carry those robots to their deployment point, duh.
far too little too late.. the problems/near-impossibilty of cleaning up at Fukushima so mind-bogglingly outstrip whatever theoretical benefit these prototypes suggest as to border on the absurd. never mind the geiger counter.. check out our cool gear! tokyo 2020! huzzah!
Damned exoskeletal robot suit's powerful robotic pincers crushed the donuts again. When will I learn?
Nuclear plant workers get very little exposure to start with. There are robotics used for underwater tasks. So there really is not a nuclear power market for such things. There could be some cleanup tasks from old government defense waste sites, but tool as described are very niche use items.
The answer is a forgotten technology that produces an infinite supply of disposable human clones. The ancients perfected the practice eons ago. They called it slavery.
Reminds me of Lester Del Rey's "Nerves," of attempts to control a disaster/meltdown in a nuclear power plant. One of the men trapped in a suit that's so heavily shielded he actually survives immersion in a pool of melted radioactive fuel...
It worked out great for Max, why not for others?
Our powered suits could be used to assist and support remote-controlled robots in emergencies
Hey, aren't the robots supposed to be assisting and supporting us?
could be useful at nuclear plants
Or factories. Or hospitals. Or zoos. Or mines. Or particle accelerators. Or shipyards.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Welcome to the H.E.V. mark 4 protective system. For use in hazardous environment conditions. High-impact reactive armour activated. Atmospheric contaminant sensors activated. Vital sign monitoring activated. Automatic medical systems engaged. Weapon selection system activated. Munition level monitoring activated. Communications interface online. Have a very safe day.
Nuclear plants are on the way out in Japan and around the world anyway. Perhaps they could help disassemble nuclear plants?
Or disassemble the anti-nuclear activists?
The writer of this article knows jack shit about nuclear plant operations. Ever get a look at the inside of a nuclear containment, especially the older ones with lots of modifications? Just being a human in a coverall getting around can be a PITA, never mind adding an exoskeleton. And the exposure to a worker in a normally operating plant is minimal and very well understood. Exoskeleton not needed, thanks.
This is a solution looking for a problem, or a sentient robot desperately looking for work to feed his family of toasters.
If the plant goes bad like Fukushima, then maybe, but both humans and robots can get fried pretty quickly if they wander into a high radiation environment. I'd rather be able to run away quickly if my counter spiked wildly instead of being encumbered with a lot of metal. Even better, I'd rather just send in some cheap disposable robots to map the danger regions.
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
Vote for Bernie in 2016!
The answer is a forgotten technology that produces an infinite supply of disposable human clones. The ancients perfected the practice eons ago. They called it slavery.
As approved by their holy book.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Nuclear plants are on the way out in Japan and around the world anyway. Perhaps they could help disassemble nuclear plants?
Or disassemble the anti-nuclear activists?
I'm pro nuclear power. We're either going to adopt it or return to the dark ages.
You're an idiot.
That attitude of yours. How's that working out for ya?
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Didn't Cyberdyne announce a while ago a HAL suit variant that can carry the tungsten plate rad armor, and has arm assist (unlike ActiveLink which the PLL-04 Ninja suit seems to provide leg/lower torso support only). Panasonic late to the game as usual?
What job _couldn't_ be improved by using an exoskeleton!
I've known a couple of Rob's. While they were good workers I'm not sure they were irreplaceable with other named people.
Tere are lots of broken down robots becouse the high radiation levels in exploded nuclear plants. ...
That happened to russians in Tshernobol, that happened to japanese in Fuku