Asimo Helps Fukushima

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit the east coast of Japan. The earthquake triggered a massive tsunami causing more than 19,300 deaths and cases of missing people. The effect of the quake and tsunami on the emergency generators and the reactor’s cooling systems also led to nuclear radiation leaks.

There are now about 300 of 2,500 workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant working to clean up the area. These workers are contract laborers, who receive little benefits or insurance for injuries and accidents. More than 20 workers have exceeded the prescribed daily radiation exposure limit, 250 millisieverts, which has been set exclusively for workers dealing with the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis. There were two contract workers who suffered burned feet from radioactive water at the end of March and another died while on the job. It was suspected that working under harsh conditions could have led to his death.

On November 8th, Honda Motor Co. unveiled an updated Asimo humanoid robot in the hope to aid such working conditions. Newly remodeled, Asimo demonstrated greater mobility and speed, running up to 5.6 mph as compared to 3.7 mph of the previous version.

Asimo now features sensors in all fingers and thumbs which improved the independent ability of control in each finger and thumb. Now this android can perform complex tasks such as grabbing a water bottle and twisting off its cap to open it, or holding a cup and pouring water into it. It can also communicate using sign language.

Honda has also introduced a new robotic arm, using technologies developed for Asimo in hopes of using it at sites similar to the one at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. The new equipment has technology that is often used in motors for moving joints on Asimo. These advanced technologies allow the arm to open and close pipe valves smoothly. By using such equipment at dangerous sites, no human work source is required. Honda has started experimenting with the equipment at one of the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) facilities. They are hoping to put it to real-world use at the contaminated Fukushima plant.

An area of 930 square miles around the plant may need decontamination as well. The entire cleanup process is expected to last 40 years.