Waste Management Showcases Robots That Could Support EM’s Cleanup
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at the Waste Management Symposia 2018 in Phoenix, the NASA Valkyrie
weighs 300 pounds, and stands 6 feet, 2 inches tall. While EM is
many years from using a humanoid robot, Valkyrie’s highly dexterous
arms could replace gloves in EM glove boxes, making work easier and
safer for laboratory technicians and workers. Tele-operated robotic arms
and manipulators could provide key advances in glove box and hot cell
design and operations. NASA and EM have been partnering on this and
other robotics projects for more than 2 years.
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display at the Waste Management Symposia 2018, the Gemini-Scout from
Sandia National Laboratories is a robotic system that could support mine
rescue teams. Equipped with cameras and sensors, it can provide
feedback to first responders and serve as a two-way communications
device with trapped miners while providing critical lifesaving
information. The High Consequence Automation and Robotics (HCAR) group
at Sandia developed the robot. The concept would allow for exploration
and assessment of mine conditions ahead time.
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The
Pipe Crawler, which can be activated by a smart phone, can travel
through the air supply line that leads to the central plenum of the
tanks at Hanford. This robot, featured at the Waste Management Symposia
2018, provides information regarding the health of the tank floor around
the center of the tank. The crawler’s movement mimics that of an
inchworm and can navigate through several 90-degree elbows, reducers,
and vertical runs. It also houses a camera for video feedback.
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The
Robotic Rabbit was on hand at the Waste Management Symposia 2018. It
was designed, built, and deployed at Exelon Generation, Nine Mile Point
Nuclear Generating Station, in collaboration with the State University
of New York Oswego. The goal was to create a simple-to-operate, easily
modified, remote surveillance unit that can reduce collective radiation
exposure to workers, obtain particulate air samples, and perform
surveillances in high heat areas in search of steam leaks.
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The
Sandia Hand, developed by Sandia National Laboratories, is low-cost,
dexterous, and modular, enabling it to support a variety of applications
including glove box manipulation, search and rescue, casualty care, and
explosive ordnance disposal. The hand, shown at the Waste Management
Symposia 2018, consists of a frame that supports a set of identical
fingers that magnetically attach and detach from the frame.
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