From Newsgroup: sci.space.news


http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-126  

NASA Technology Looks Inside Japan's Nuclear Reactor
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
April 26, 2011

Design techniques honed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
Calif., for Mars rovers were used to create the rover currently
examining the inside of Japan's nuclear reactors, in areas not yet
deemed safe for human crews.

The iRobot PackBot employs technologies used previously in the design of
"Rocky-7," which served as a terrestrial test bed at JPL for the current
twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. PackBot's structural features
are modeled after Rocky-7, including the lightweight, high-torque
actuators that control the rover; and its strong, lightweight frame
structure and sheet-metal chassis.

PackBot's other "ancestor," called Urbie, was an urban reconnaissance
robot with military and disaster response applications. Urbie's
lightweight structure and rugged features also made it useful in
emergency response situations; for example, at sites contaminated with
radiation and chemical spills, and at buildings damaged by earthquakes.
Urbie's physical structure was designed by iRobot Corp., Bedford, Mass.,
while JPL was responsible for the intelligent robot's onboard sensors
and vision algorithms, which helped the robot factor in obstacles and
determine an appropriate driving path. Following the success of Urbie's
milestones, the team at iRobot created its successor: PackBot.

Since 2002, iRobot has delivered variations of the PackBot model to the
U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. The tactical robot's first
military deployment was to Afghanistan in July 2002, to assist soldiers
by providing "eyes and ears" in the most dangerous or inaccessible
areas. It was also used to search through debris at Ground Zero after
the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York.

Recently, iRobot provided two PackBots to help after the devastating
March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The PackBot models,
currently taking radioactivity readings in the damaged Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant buildings, are equipped with multiple cameras and
hazard material sensors. The images and readings provided by the
PackBots indicated radiation levels are still too high to allow human
repair crews to safely enter the buildings.

Urbie was a joint effort of the Defense Advanced Research Project's
Agency's (DARPA) Tactical Mobile Robot program, JPL, iRobot Corp., the
Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of
Southern California's Robotics Research Laboratory. JPL is managed for
NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

For more information on the history of the partnership between iRobot
and JPL, visit: http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/Spinoff2005/ps_1.html .

Priscilla Vega 818-354-1357
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Priscilla.r.vega{at}jpl.nasa.gov

2011-126

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