Japan looks abroad for high-tech help at Fukushima plant
Saturday, May 7, 2011 - 23:30
in Astronomy & Space
When the Japanese needed robots to work in environments at the nuclear plant deemed too dangerous for humans, the country known for its high-tech prowess looked abroad. Massachusetts-based iRobot is one of the firms that sent machines to do the work. The little robot rumbled across an otherworldly landscape, its camera lens clouding up in a hostile atmosphere too toxic for human habitation. Its motor whirring, it dispatched a constant stream of images to nervous operators grouped a safe distance away.