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Fukushima technician gives behind-the-scenes look at the cleanup operation
New details about the robotics deployed to help clean up Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant have emerged, thanks to a series of blog posts penned by an anonymous technician. Known only as 'S.H.', the blogger wrote of the effectiveness of the donated iRobot Packbots and Warriors (despite their prolonged exposure to electronics-damaging radiation), while criticizing the Tokyo Electric Power Company for what he saw as inept supervision, unreasonable schedules and disregard for technician safety. S.H., who helped retrofit a vacuum cleaner onto a robot to collect radioactive dust, also revealed technical details about the robots, explaining that they were manipulated with a PlayStation-style controller via a Panasonic Toughbook and that the devices were most effective in pairs, which allowed for better wireless connectivity and faster emergency response. The site was taken down after it began circulating on Twitter but IEEE kept and translated the posts, available for your perusal at the source link, below.
iPhone iRobot control
A while back we showed an iPhone being used to control some remote control planes through MobileSafari. Now some researchers at the University of South Florida have taken the idea to the next step with a native iPhone application to control an iRobot PackBot. As the above video demonstrates, the iPhone not only allows them to direct the PackBot, but even displays video from the robot's on-board camera. The iPhone connects directly to the PackBot via wifi and does not require a proxy machine or even an access point. Apparently the next step is to use the iPhone's accelerometers to control the movement by tilting, with video from the camera displayed full-screen. They're also going to use touch controls for zooming and panning the video. It's a cool proof of concept; somehow, though, I don't think this one will be appearing on the App Store anytime soon. [via Engadget]
