Japan eyes deploying robots for highly irradiated environment
May 31, 2011
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa on Tuesday expressed willingness to introduce robots capable of operating in a highly irradiated environment in the wake of the nuclear emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
''Japan has been called a robotics superpower, but we have depended on U.S. robots'' in addressing the disaster, he told a news conference, stressing the need to ''equip Self-Defense Forces with robots so they can provide help in contingencies at home and in neighboring countries.''
After the Fukushima plant was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, U.S.-made robots were deployed to take video footage and check radiation levels and other data inside the reactor buildings.
In connection with Kitazawa's remarks, a senior Defense Ministry official said the ministry would seek to secure a budgetary allocation to study the feasibility of robot deployment and the introduction of unmanned drones as part of the fiscal 2011 supplementary budget.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on May 31, 2011)
''Japan has been called a robotics superpower, but we have depended on U.S. robots'' in addressing the disaster, he told a news conference, stressing the need to ''equip Self-Defense Forces with robots so they can provide help in contingencies at home and in neighboring countries.''
After the Fukushima plant was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, U.S.-made robots were deployed to take video footage and check radiation levels and other data inside the reactor buildings.
In connection with Kitazawa's remarks, a senior Defense Ministry official said the ministry would seek to secure a budgetary allocation to study the feasibility of robot deployment and the introduction of unmanned drones as part of the fiscal 2011 supplementary budget.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on May 31, 2011)
