[IEEE Seminar] Japanese robots can’t succeed inside Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
At August 4th, IEEE, the world’s largest professional association for engineering, held a seminar
titled, “Situation and Challenges of Robotics in Japan ~Viewing from Rescue Robots at
Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant~”
Kazuhiro Kosuge, IEEE fellow and president of IEEE robotics and automation society, and
professor in the department of bioengineering and robotics at Tohoku University, gave a lecture
along with Satoshi Tadokoro, IEEE fellow and Robotics and Automation Society Vice Presidentdesignate, president of IRS (International Rescue System Institute), and professor at graduate
school of information sciences, Tohoku University.
At the beginning, Professor Kosuge introduced a brief summary of IEEE, world trends in robotics
technology, and the situation of the robotics industry in Japan. Professor Tadokoro, who is one of
the developers of Quince, the world’s No. 1 robot in terms of mobility in closed-space searching,
and the only robot from Japan which went inside the nuclear power plant, gave a speech
regarding the usage of robots in the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Professor Tadokoro explained about the success of rescue robots from around the world after the
Great East Japan Earthquake, about the merits of using rescue robots in disaster areas, and also
about Japanese world-leading technology in the robotics area.
It has not been reported much in Japan, but robotics researchers from universities have been
working in disaster areas, and have been searching for bodies at the bay of the ruined area with
their own money. In fact, construction equipment has been performing very well when disposing
of radiation-contaminated rubble, but this has not been widely reported because it's visually
unappealing. Indeed, construction equipment has contributed much more than “PackBot”, a
military robot sold by US company iRobot, which is well known as a cleaning robot.
On the other hand, it is true that robots from Japan are not well organized as a group. Especially
at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, PackBot was the first robot to enter the nuclear plant, and
criticism resounded from inside and outside of Japan, asking the question, “What is Japan doing,
when it said to have the best robotics technology in the world!” Answering this criticism, Professor
Tadokoro claims that “The situation is no surprise. There is no organization to deploy rescue
robots under emergency situations in Japan.”
In addition, absence of rescue robots for nuclear accident is another reason for this problem.
Quince was developed to operate under CBRNE (Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear
Explosive) disaster circumstances. However, it was specifically made to function under the
conditions of a nuclear bomb, and was not made to deal with nuclear power plant accidents,
which have a stronger radiation effect. Furthermore, Quince was made for technological
development, and not for actual use. So the truth is, it was brought inside the Fukushima nuclear
power plant through the hard work of Eiji Koyanagi, deputy director of Future Robotics
Technology Center (fuRo) in Chiba University, who was the leading member of the Quince
development team.
Moreover, the reason Japanese researchers hesitated to develop rescue robots for nuclear plant
accidents is because it is difficult to earn research budgets based on that reason. In the previous
press seminar, Professor Tadokoro mentioned, “If Quince was presented as a rescue robot for
nuclear plant accidents, it would have been very difficult to earn budget from New Energy and
Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), which currently provides the budget for
Quince now.”
The problem with Japan is, while having enough robotics technology, there are no laws or
organizations to manage it. Hence, there are no such companies that develop and maintain
rescue robots, as in other countries. If it was explained using the an analogy of a car, the situation
would be, universities and research institutes have the skill to build an F1 machine, but it would
be prohibited from running on a public highway, from mass producing the machine, and from
finding manufacturers to build it. Under similar circumstances, how is it possible for Japanese
robots to succeed in nuclear power plants?
To avoid repeating the same mistake, Professor Tadokoro points out, “It is important to form an
organization which can send robots to manage under emergency situations like those associated
with the recent earthquake. Needless to say, it should not be a weak organization that loses
budget every time the government changes. It must be an organization which can deploy,
manage, improve, develop, and review for at least ten years. ”
As for the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Professor Tadokoro comments, “By
learning from this lesson, even though Japan has top-class atomic technology, it is important to
enhance that technology even further and build Fukushima brand. In this situation, the role of
IEEE is very important, and is considered as a tremendous knowledge resource. We need to
think globally, and utilize technology and data outside Japan. In fact, researchers and engineers
already have a global mindset. ”