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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Robots are developed to be used in areas inaccessible to human beings. Radio
active environment is one in which high energy radiations like α, β and γ radiations are
emitted by radioactive materials. There is a limitation in case of the time and dose for
which professional worker can be exposed to nuclear radiations according to international
regulations so it very useful to use robots in such an environment.
Robots with properly automated can also be used to control nuclear power plants
and hence can be used to avert nuclear power plant disasters like one that occurred at
Chernobyl. Robots can also be used for the disposal of radioactive waste.
Future is still bright for robots in radio active environment as they are to be used
to isolate nuclear power plants from surroundings in case of a nuclear power plant
disaster.
CHAPTER 2
BRIEF HISTORY
The word robot was introduced in 1921 by the Czech play Wright Karel Capek,
in his play Rossum’s universal robots and is derived from the Czech word “Robota”,
meaning “forced labour”. The story concerns a brilliant scientist named ‘ROSSUM’ and
his son, who developed a chemical substance similar to protoplasm to manufacture
robots. Their plan was that the robots would serve the mankind obediently and do all
physical labour. Finally, after improvements and eliminating unnecessary parts, they
develop a “perfect robot”, which eventually goes out of control and attacks humans.
Although Capek introduced the word robot to the world, the term robotics was
coined by Isaac Asimov in his science fiction story “run around”, where he portrayed
robots not in negative manner but built with safety measures in mind to assist human
beings. Asimov established in his story three fundamental laws of robots as follows:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being
to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such
orders would conflict with the first law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict
with the first and second laws. .
Robots were introduced into the industry in the early 1960’s. Robots originally were
in hazardous operations, such as handling toxics and radioactive materials and loading
& unloading hot work pieces from furnaces and handling them in foundries.
CHAPTER 3
BASIC COMPONENTS OF A ROBOT
3.4 Controller
The controller is a communication and information processing device that
initiates, terminates and coordinates the motion and sequences of a robot. It accepts the
necessary inputs to the robots and provides the output drive signals to a controlling motor
or actuator to correspond with the robot movements and outside world.
Controllers vary greatly in complexity and design. They have a great deal to do
with functional capabilities of a robot and therefore, the complexity of the tasks that
robots must be able to fulfil.
The heart of the controller is the computer and its solid state memory. In many
robot controllers, the computer includes a network of microprocessors.
The input and output section of a control system must provide a communication
interface between the robot controller computer and the following parts:
Feed back sensors
Production sensors
Production machine tools
Teaching devices
Program storage devices
Other computer device hardware
Fig 3-2:
Block
Diagram of
a
Controller
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
ROBOTS USED IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
6.1. Remotely operated service arm (ROSA)
Radioactive environment in which robots work is actually seen in nuclear power
plants. The tubes in steam generators are subject to multiple stresses, such as mechanical
and thermal loading, vibrations and various types of corrosion. Diagnostic tests are
therefore necessary to identify points of degradation along the SG tubes and define repair
procedures for damaged tubes. The SG maintenance jobs, which are carried out during
plant refuelling outages, involve complex tasks (water cleaning, nozzle dam insertion,
eddy-current inspection, mechanical plugging and unplugging etc) inside an environment
made hazardous by high radiation and contamination. The frequency of inspection and
the number of inspected tubes increases with the aging of the plant. So a telerobotic
system known as remotely operated service arm is used to the use of jumpers that work
inside the SG channel head, thus lessens the risk of contamination of human workers. The
system has proven its robustness and flexibility for a wide range of maintenance
operations inside the SG channel head of PWR SGS. The system provides a remote user
interface for controlling the joint six axis arm. The arm is equipped with a remote quick
connector (RQC) to facilitate the assembly and disassembly of such tools.
6.4. TRON
During refuelling operation, parts of tools or other objects can fall into the vessel because
of human error or other circumstances. The teleoperated and robotized system for
maintenance operation in nuclear power plant vessels is a four jointed robotized pole used
to retrieve fallen objects from the PWR reactor vessel. The pole is inserted through the
holes in the lower core plate. In this way, it can inspect the lower internal zone and
recover objects without the core having to be disassembled.
The whole system comprises a jointed pole, end-effectors and a computer vision
navigation system that helps the operator to move through a highly complex environment.
The end-effector and the inspection cameras are attached to the end link. More complex
mechanism cannot be used because of the small size of the flow holes.
When disasters like nuclear power plant explosions occur, power plant personnel
are often faced with a problem: how to find the reasons for nuclear power plant
explosions, so that future disasters can be avoided. The answer may be robotic animals
that can venture to hard to reach places that are inaccessible to people.
Robotic researchers are looking more and more to mimic nature for the shapes and
functions of their mechanical creations. At North Carolina State University, when
students were challenged to come up with a robot that could crawl through pipes, they
looked to the animal world for a clue.
The idea came to Eddie Grant, director of the Center for Robotic and Intelligent
Machines and a visiting professor at NC State, when he spoke with a major in the Marine
Corps who had been called out to the Oklahoma City bombing. Grant realized that a robot
that could navigate pipes would be ideal in this situation because pipes generally stay
intact when the rest of a structure has collapsed.
The senior design students created robots called MOCASIN I and MOCASIN II
(Modular Observation Crawler And Sensing Instrument) that can crawl through six-inch
piping
A tiny video camera and lights allow rescuers to see where MOCASIN II is
located. The robot can also be equipped with sensors that could pick up vibrations from
someone tapping on the pipes, or even "hear" voices and perhaps breathing.
Robots like MOCASIN II could eventually have other uses, as well. They could be used
for repairs in dangerous areas, such as nuclear power plant pipes, or to detect cracks in
sewer or water lines. They could used to rescue people from rubbles after massive
earthquakes. They could be even used in other planets.
working on adding pressure and light sensors to the robots as well. Like the MOCASIN,
the robots use standard parts and electronics, but in this case they really resemble snakes.
Robotic snakes that even imitate the slithering movement of the real thing, has been
developed.
While it may be a while before snake robots are used in space, rescuers on this
planet are likely to find such robots an invaluable tool.
There are many types of industrial operations and environments for which mobile
robots can be used to reduce human exposure hazards, or increase productivity. Examples
include inspection for spills, leaks, or other unusual events in large industrial facilities,
materials handling in computer integrated manufacturing environments, and the carrying
out of inspections, the cleaning up of spills, or the carrying out of repairs in the
radioactive areas of nuclear plants - leading to increased safety by reducing the potential
radioactive dose to workers.
machines in operation. Such an environment presents many difficulties that include: the
lack of vertical flat walls; large open spaces (the main isle is 400' long) as well as small
cramped spaces; high ceilings (50'); large windows near the ceiling resulting in time
dependent and weather dependent lighting conditions, a large variation in light intensity,
also highlights and glare; many temporary and semi-permanent structures; many (some
very large) metallic structures; people and forklifts moving about; oil and water spills on
the floor; floor drains (which could be uncovered); hoses and piping on the floor; chains
hanging down from above, protruding structures, and other transient obstacles to the safe
motion of the robot.
The ARK robot's onboard sensor system consisted of sonar’s and one or more
ARK robotic heads and a floor anomaly detector (FAD). The head consists of a colour
camera and a spot laser range finder mounted on a pan-tilt unit. The pan, tilt, camera
zoom, camera focus and laser distance reading of the ARK robotic head are computer
controlled.
The ARK robot must navigate through its environment autonomously and cannot
rely on modifications to its environment such as the addition of radio beacons, magnetic
strips beneath the floors, or the use of visual symbols added to the existing environment.
In order to navigate within this environment the ARK robot used naturally occurring
objects as landmarks. The robot relied on vision as its main sensor for global navigation,
using a map of permanent structures in the environment (walls, pillars) to plan its path.
While following the planned path, the robot locates known landmarks in its environment.
Positions and salient descriptions of the landmarks are known in advance and are stored
in the map. The robot uses the measured position of the detected landmarks to update its
position with respect to the map.
CHAPTER 7
Robots have to be used in handling nuclear materials because of its toxic effects
on life. Nuclear accidents are the most difficult to deal with at present and experience has
shown that humans can only run away from nuclear accidents in the face of danger just
like a comical Neolithic ancestors running away in the face of fire. Fractal robots
presented here explains in detail how best to manage nuclear accidents.
Fractal robots can limit an evolving nuclear accidents as it occurs by sealing the
roof top of the building that have been blown and leaking radiation dusts. Penetrating
intense radiation from nuclear accident can prevent any kind of repair work from being
undertaken inside the building. This penetrating nature of radiation requires that all
machinery be operated remotely. Standard remote machinery such as robotic rovers
cannot operate in high radiation environments, confined spaces or an undefined terrain
created by explosions that simply rules out existing approaches. Fractal robots on the
other hand can overcome all these difficulties systematically because it is a true multi-
terrain vehicle to get from anywhere to anywhere across undefined terrains.
A nuclear reactor that has been severely damaged is never accessible directly for
servicing or repairs. The concrete reactor is normally surrounded by installation specific
buildings that can make access difficult after an accident. Access constrains make the task
of clearing up catastrophic reactor failure near impossible using conventional systems.
It is the chemical or pressure explosion or both that rips the dome of the reactor
and destroys other parts of the installation. These kinds of explosions are typical of
explosions that have ripped through the installations in the past. There is debris
everywhere and terrain is generally undefined. A legged robot could become trapped in
the debris and so would small robots which are of little use anyway once they reach their
objectives. Large robots cannot enter the building and tread its way through the maze of
the machinery without creating further damage.
If the installation is fitted with fractal robots, they can kick into action seconds
after an accident even if they are damaged because they are self repairing machines. The
first priority of the robots is to negotiate the rough terrain and arrive at the accident scene.
Operators are used to shuffle the bricking position aided by computer software that
calculates deformation algorithms and routes for moving cubes to cope in undefined
terrain.
The fractal robots squeeze through small holes by shuffling the bricks around.
They take with them cameras, lighting and any other special equipment integrated into the
cubes and which can squeeze through the available holes. Under operator control, the
fractal robots can then install lighting and cameras. Dust suction equipment and/or hoses
can be installed to filter out dust and fumes. The robotic cubes can be used as structural
supports to support collapsing ceilings. Terrain that is not a problem for the robotic cubes
which can transform into foot units that allow the machine to support itself whilst
negotiating hallways and corridors. The possibility of malfunction of electronic systems is
avoided using lead shielding and using specialized robotic cubes that have no electronics
and have the equivalent of a mechanical computer inside it built out of relays.
Fractal robots can handle the worst case reactor core meltdown accident. If the
reactor is eating its way through the ground as happened in Chernobyl, we can stop it.
The problem with such a reactor is that in the molten state it is hot and corrosive. The
melt cannot be cooled with normal fluids as they can be vaporised by the heat generated
by radioactive molten core which will continue to generate heat for days if not weeks.
The molten core has to cool by the equivalent of a nuclear coolant such as molten lead.
By amalgamating the molten lead with molten core, the nuclear reactions are shut down.
Whatever the coolant used, actions has to be taken immediately if the molten core is not
to eat its way through all the reactor building floors and seep into the ground from where
it can be very difficult to extract.
Fractal robots are competitive when the full nuclear power production cycle is
taken into account. This includes decommissioning work which is now estimated to run
into billions of dollars per installation. Fractal robots are also competitive in the disposal
of radio active wastes. It is not possible to simply take tons of equipment and bury it
somewhere with out due attention and care to the possibilities of radioactive substances
leeching into the environment over the decades. Fractal robots can help in a number of
ways to reduce the amount of waste generated and to look after those wastes.
For example, if much of the low activity structure is made of fractal robot
compatible structures, then they can be recycled in other installations or even in the
current installations in more radioactive areas as they acquire higher and higher dosages
until they end up in the reactor room as reactor supports and lining. Instead of
commissioning more new installations which will then get contaminated, the old
structures from the old reactors are de-installed and reused in the newer installations to
acquire a higher dosage. Fractal robots give hundred percent automation and thus there is
no need for humans to go into reactor areas or contaminated areas for any reasons for this
type of reactor.
With the level of automation offered by fractal robots, when new reactors are
commissioned, the old structures that have been de-commissioned are retrieved from
storage and reused. This recycling minimizes creation of nuclear contaminated wastes.
De-commissioning can also be carried out using same robots. De-commissioned robotic
parts held in storage can be looked after by more fractal robots patrolling, the waste site
with sensors to look for leaks and leeching.
CHAPTER 8
CONCLUSION
Over the years, several telerobotic systems for periodic maintenance services and
unforeseen interventions have been developed. Most of the process that is inaccessible to
human has been automated. Thanks to the design of reference software architectures for
teleoperated systems, it has been possible to develop different applications reusing
existing components.
But even after all these developments, complete automation still remains a
challenge. It’s believed that complete automation would be possible with the development
of fractal robots.
CHAPTER 9
BIBLIOGRAPHY