Researchers create partially autonomous robot to handle nuclear disasters

Nuclear disasters can at times bring severe catastrophe and are mostly not easy to handle by humans. For this, engineers have created a new robot that can handle such disasters.

Responding to a nuclear disaster is no easy task for humans, due to extreme radiations that our bodies cannot handle. To tackle this issue, researchers in UK have developed a robot shaped like a centaur – a mythical creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.

The robot, even named ‘Centauro’, is designed to work in settings that are deemed to be too dangerous for humans to navigate, with the hope that someday the robot can be used to play a major role in disaster response efforts including nuclear catastrophes, wrote Futurism.

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The robot is less than 5ft tall and weighs about 205 pounds. Centauro’s body is made up of aluminum and other lightweight materials, whereas, its skin is 3D-printed plastic.

Researcher Sven Behnke told Horizon that the centaur-like quadrupedal design (with four pedals) makes Centauro more stable on its feet than if it were bipedal (with two pedals). Instead of a foot, each of the robot’s four legs has a wheel attached to it.

While testing the robot in designed similar to real-world scenarios, Centauro successfully managed to climb stairs, step over gaps, and navigate debris. The robot’s both arms have a multi-fingered hand with enough agility to unlock doors and operate power tools, among more tasks.

Also, the robot is partially autonomous. For instance, if it’s ordered to move to a certain place, Centauro can figure out how to do so. However, most of its actions are dictated by a human controller wearing a head-mounted display that lets hi, see everything the way Centauro sees.

“The main operator controls the robot through a telepresence suit which measures the motions of the operator’s arms, wrists, and fingers and transfers them to the robot,” Behnke told Horizon.

Furthermore, the researcher also mentioned that the robot is not ready to navigate radioactive settings for now, however, in future, it, along with others like it, could prove o be invaluable resources for humanity in the event of nuclear disasters.