Robots compete in Fukushima-inspired U.S. challenge

It's a pity that for years Japanese Universities were not encouraged, and were actively discouraged, from researching robots or any devices that could be used the management of nuclear disasters, despite interest in them. The nuclear village could not risk any cracks in the story that nuclear power was safe.

NEDO x Japan = once down, no second chance... "NEDO to okiagarenai"? Sono kokoro, wakaranai! Haa, pokkun!!

All great fun for the technos but if it is supposed to lead to a genuine artificial intelligence, thne it's a waste of time. Google "The Chinese Room Puzzle" and you will see.

It's perhaps a dawn of the new era of managing nuclear plants with the help of robots! This type of 'robot management' should be practiced in all nuclear power plants in India also.

Seems a bit like apples and oranges here. The Fukushima environment requires a tethered robot (radiation prevents radio communication) flexible enough to crawl through narrow spaces and move over rubble, and dealing with a highly humid and and radioactive environment (requiring major shielding). The humanoid pictured above would not come close to cutting it.

Nice robots. Sadly their electronics get fried with radiation

When Fukushima happened, they had to bring robots from the USA to help. All the robots made in Japan were just made to welcome clients, resemble pets or walk in funny ways. If you are looking for hi-tech maybe Japan is not the place to go these days.