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A Suite of Robotic Solutions for Nuclear Waste Decommissioning
by
Ivan Vitanov, Ildar Farkhatdinov, Brice Denoun, Francesca Palermo, Ata Otaran, Joshua Brown, Bukeikhan Omarali, Taqi Abrar, Miles Hansard, Changjae Oh, Stefan Poslad, Chen Liu, Hareesh Godaba, Ketao Zhang, Lorenzo Jamone and Kaspar Althoefer
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 7548
Abstract
Dealing safely with nuclear waste is an imperative for the nuclear industry. Increasingly, robots are being developed to carry out complex tasks such as perceiving, grasping, cutting, and manipulating waste. Radioactive material can be sorted, and either stored safely or disposed of appropriately,
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Dealing safely with nuclear waste is an imperative for the nuclear industry. Increasingly, robots are being developed to carry out complex tasks such as perceiving, grasping, cutting, and manipulating waste. Radioactive material can be sorted, and either stored safely or disposed of appropriately, entirely through the actions of remotely controlled robots. Radiological characterisation is also critical during the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. It involves the detection and labelling of radiation levels, waste materials, and contaminants, as well as determining other related parameters (e.g., thermal and chemical), with the data visualised as 3D scene models. This paper overviews work by researchers at the QMUL Centre for Advanced Robotics (ARQ), a partner in the UK EPSRC National Centre for Nuclear Robotics (NCNR), a consortium working on the development of radiation-hardened robots fit to handle nuclear waste. Three areas of nuclear-related research are covered here: human–robot interfaces for remote operations, sensor delivery, and intelligent robotic manipulation.
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