Author Archives: engineerzero

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About engineerzero

Once and future engineer.

Teleoperated Radioactivity Sample Boat

Posted on April 7, 2011 by engineerzero

The high levels of radioactivity in the waters off the Fukushima nuclear plant require constant monitoring, which is best conducted without exposing human workers. Hence this design for a teleoperated radioactivity sample boat. To make the modification effort as simple … Continue reading →

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A Roof for Fukushima

Posted on April 7, 2011 by engineerzero

On the right is the baseball stadium known as Safeco Field in Seattle, USA. It is famous for its retractable roof, which rolls back for sunshine on the rare days in Seattle when there is sunshine. Why bring this up? … Continue reading →

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Fukushima Cooling Pump Cascade

Posted on April 6, 2011 by engineerzero

A German concrete pump is being used at Fukushima to spray cooling water on the spent fuel rods. Now that the plant’s own cooling pumps are down and the cooling pools are empty of water, this pump may be all … Continue reading →

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Fukushima: Removing Spent Fuel Rods

Posted on April 4, 2011 by engineerzero

If you’ve ever looked at Fairewinds Associates videos, you know that the big problem at Fukushima is the drying up of the cooling pools which are suspended over the reactor vessel and contain the spent (but extremely radioactive) fuel rods. … Continue reading →

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Japan’s Choice: Go Solar or Go Dark

Posted on April 4, 2011 by engineerzero

“Japan’s dim capital faces further power crunch” (Associated Press, April 3): About 9 million kilowatts of capacity may be gone forever as the radiation-leaking Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant is likely to be scrapped and the future of the halted Dai-ni … Continue reading →

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Robots and Radiation

Posted on April 2, 2011 by engineerzero

“Robots to the Rescue,” Technology Review (29 March 2011): . . . . constructing robots designed to withstand high levels of radiation would be difficult. “For radiated environments, one needs robots that are particularly rugged,” he says. “Such robots typically … Continue reading →

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Robot door-opening tool

Posted on March 31, 2011 by engineerzero

“Robots to the Rescue” (Technology Review, March 29, 2011): Some experts also question how helpful robots would be after a nuclear plant disaster. Something as simple as a locked door could prevent a robot from doing its job. Is it … Continue reading →

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TOR Systems List

Posted on March 29, 2011 by engineerzero

This picture identifies the major systems for the TOR. (TOR stands for Tele-Operated Robot.) Here is a preliminary parts list. 1. Arduino Microcontroller for input/output interface between communications and motor/servos. Easy to find, only $35. 2. Wireless Camera available on … Continue reading →

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Robot arm studies

Posted on March 29, 2011 by engineerzero

As I get closer to designing a teleoperated robot that I can actually build, I wanted to experiment with different robot arm designs. Hence I took the re-design of a couple days ago and made several re-designs out of it … Continue reading →

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Robot re-design

Posted on March 27, 2011 by engineerzero

The elbows-back manipulator arms of the previous version always make me think of Fozzie Bear going, “Waka waka!” The design was taken from a space robot and doesn’t really work on a ground vehicle, so I replaced it with the … Continue reading →

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