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A great use case for drones to fly in and take photographs. A quick Google search shows it already has been done => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra7YbBvbRYQ

by LaFolle 11y ago

A great use case for drones to fly in and take photographs. A quick Google search shows it already has been done => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra7YbBvbRYQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra7YbBvbRYQ Had drones existed in 1986 and deployed to take close photographs of disaster, would it have been safe to access that drone after it returned?

bigiain 11y ago
Yeah, except when: "TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said that due to its small size and weight, the drone was “unlikely to crash through the rooftop and damage the reactor.”" http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/06/25/t-hawk-uav-fails-at-fukushima/ http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/06/25/t-hawk-uav-fails-at-fuk...
Trombone12 11y ago
That was a bad link, those are just photos of the outside, where it was perfectly fine to visit if you avoided standing downwind. In fact, they apparently overflew it just two days later and took this footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoJTNC-3XLA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoJTNC-3XLA They've tried to put drones into Fukushima, attempts so far have been unproductive one way trips. Not all of that is the radiation killing stuff, apparently the geometry to be navigated has some pretty narrow passages as well.
exar0815 11y ago
Well, maybe, except the fact that the SU tried to use Robots built in Western Germany, and the radioactivity just fried them. They were absolutely inusable under those conditions. Read about radiation shielding in space missions and the problems that microelectronics have there.
- LaFolle 11y ago
  I see. Quote from wikipedia: "Equipment assembled included remote-controlled bulldozers and robot-carts that could detect radioactivity and carry hot debris. Valery Legasov (first deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy in Moscow) said, in 1987: "But we learned that robots are not the great remedy for everything. Where there was very high radiation, the robot ceased to be a robot—the electronics quit working.""
- taternuts 11y ago
  Apparently they designed the robot against specs that were deliberately underestimated to prove that a meltdown couldn't cause the amount of radiation damage it did, and the Germans built the robot to spec and it instantly fried
  - exar0815 11y ago
    Oh, didnt know that. Probably should read up on this, then. But yeah, it fits.
spyder 11y ago
They used (or tried) a lot of remote controlled robots, but many of the break down due to the high radiation. There is a museum of them: http://io9.gizmodo.com/a-museum-of-robotic-equipment-used-during-the-chernobyl-512831778 http://io9.gizmodo.com/a-museum-of-robotic-equipment-used-du...
- LaFolle 11y ago
  Thanks for the link. You can see robots being used to clear off debris here: https://youtu.be/ezohqY-vg4s?t=57m43s https://youtu.be/ezohqY-vg4s?t=57m43s

by LaFolle 11y ago

bigiain 11y ago

Yeah, except when: "TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said that due to its small size and weight, the drone was “unlikely to crash through the rooftop and damage the reactor.”" http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/06/25/t-hawk-uav-fails-at-fukushima/ http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/06/25/t-hawk-uav-fails-at-fuk...

Trombone12 11y ago

That was a bad link, those are just photos of the outside, where it was perfectly fine to visit if you avoided standing downwind. In fact, they apparently overflew it just two days later and took this footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoJTNC-3XLA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoJTNC-3XLA They've tried to put drones into Fukushima, attempts so far have been unproductive one way trips. Not all of that is the radiation killing stuff, apparently the geometry to be navigated has some pretty narrow passages as well.

exar0815 11y ago

Well, maybe, except the fact that the SU tried to use Robots built in Western Germany, and the radioactivity just fried them. They were absolutely inusable under those conditions. Read about radiation shielding in space missions and the problems that microelectronics have there.

LaFolle 11y ago
I see. Quote from wikipedia: "Equipment assembled included remote-controlled bulldozers and robot-carts that could detect radioactivity and carry hot debris. Valery Legasov (first deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy in Moscow) said, in 1987: "But we learned that robots are not the great remedy for everything. Where there was very high radiation, the robot ceased to be a robot—the electronics quit working.""
taternuts 11y ago
Apparently they designed the robot against specs that were deliberately underestimated to prove that a meltdown couldn't cause the amount of radiation damage it did, and the Germans built the robot to spec and it instantly fried
- exar0815 11y ago
  Oh, didnt know that. Probably should read up on this, then. But yeah, it fits.

spyder 11y ago

They used (or tried) a lot of remote controlled robots, but many of the break down due to the high radiation. There is a museum of them: http://io9.gizmodo.com/a-museum-of-robotic-equipment-used-during-the-chernobyl-512831778 http://io9.gizmodo.com/a-museum-of-robotic-equipment-used-du...

LaFolle 11y ago
Thanks for the link. You can see robots being used to clear off debris here: https://youtu.be/ezohqY-vg4s?t=57m43s https://youtu.be/ezohqY-vg4s?t=57m43s