nuclear-news

Fukushima Warrior 710 robot flounders and fails – design fault?

Powerful and rugged, the iRobot 710 Warrior is a multi-mission robot that carries heavy payloads, travels over rough terrain and climbs stairs.

“Versatile”
The 710 Warrior is designed to meet the demands of dangerous situations.

“Rugged”

Suitable for indoor and outdoor use, 710 Warrior maintains mobility on tough terrain, in urban environments and in all weather conditions.
“Expandable”

The 710 Warrior accommodates a wide range of payloads and accessories,enabling multiple missions.”

“How to switch on”

The on-off switch is large, clearly marked and on the vehicle!

Technical data from the irobot sales brochure

500 lbs (226.8 kg) with arm installed

Runtime of 4 to 10 hours

Wireless range – 2600 ft (800 m)

Digital radio- 2.4 GHz or 4.9 GHz

About 60 seconds battery removal and replacement

Allows use of other ethernet radios

Deployment takes about 60 seconds

“Special” technical modification

Attached a wire for charging only

Working military version used by the US military to pick up a cheese sandwich – Photo from advertising brochure found here ; http://www.irobot.com/~/media/Files/Robots/Defense/Warrior/iRobot-710-Warrior-Specs.pdf

This Picture is a non working Warrior from the fukuleaks article linked below and will remain in place defending that hole for the rest of eternity.

April 7th, 2014

More pictures on link

http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=12766

TEPCO released some images and information about the work progress on the 5th floor refueling floor of unit 2. This is where the Warrior robot became stranded and had to be abandoned after they were unable to restart it.

They have managed to cut down one of the reactor well fences using the Warrior robot. The second fence further across the refueling floor is where Warrior failed. It appears to have hung itself up while cutting loose the reactor well fence on the far side.

This caused TEPCO to change the concrete sampling locations for the (2.5 ton)  MEISTeR robot. It took samples near the blow out panel door and on the concrete reactor cover. Those have been extracted and taken for testing.

The Warrior robot as it sits stranded on the unit 2 refueling floor. After the battery discharged workers are unable to restart it even after recharging it. The “on” switch can only be manually activated on the robot itself. Since the radiation levels on the refueling floor are so high workers can not go in to restart it.

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Human errors strand robot in Fukushima Daiichi reactor building

Extract from ; http://enformable.com/2014/03/human-errors-strand-dead-robot-fukushima-daiichi-reactor-building/
The utility later discovered that the battery of the “Warrior” robot was designed to automatically cut-off power from the external cable when the battery was fully charged, a fact that workers did not know when they sent the robot into the reactor building.

This design meant that the battery could not be charged by the external power cord unless workers manually flipped a switch on the body of the robot.

Workers were unable to access the areas where the robot was inspecting due to the high radiation levels in the reactor building and decided to abandon it.

The “Warrior” robot is the second robot to be abandoned in the Unit 2 reactor building.  In 2011, the “Quince” robot, designed by the Chiba Institute of Technology was also abandoned after becoming immobilized on the third floor of the reactor building.

Source: JiJi Press – Translated by Yuri Hiranuma for Enformable

April 9, 2014 - Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized