Servo - September 2016

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Fukushima Bot Flops

Back in January, Toshiba ( www.toshiba.com) announced that it had developed an amphibious robot designed to remove 566 fuel-rod assemblies and other debris from the spent fuel pool at Fukushima Dsiichi’s melted-down no. 3 reactor. As you recall, a severe earthquake in 2011 triggered a 33 ft ( 10 m) tsunami that led to historic property destruction, 19,000 deaths, and several meltdowns at the facility. Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco, www.tepco.co.jp) has managed to remove 1,535 spent fuel rods from the reactor no. 4 building, but that reactor had lower radiation levels, so human workers could oversee the process. The no. 3 reactor, however, contains far higher levels of radiation, and humans can’t get near it. In fact, levels are so high that Toshiba’s bots have already “died” as the radioactive materials destroyed their wiring, and about 90 percent of the mess has not been cleaned up.

Unfortunately, no one is sure that the technology exists to build bots that will withstand the radiation,

and it takes two years to build one. Tepco reportedly is building the world’s biggest subterranean “ice wall” in an attempt to stop groundwater contamination, but that doesn’t fix what’s inside. There’s nothing much we can do but cross our fingers and hope that someone comes up with a solution before disintegrating storage tanks spring major leaks into the surrounding seawater.

Toshiba’s fuel-rod cleanup bot couldn’t handle the heat.

Pizza Hut with Pepper

Two years ago, we noted the arrival of Pepper: a humanoid robot billed as a “personal happiness counselor.” Created by SoftBank Robotics ( www.softbank.jp), Pepper didn’t mop the floor, bring you a beer, or perform any other utilitarian functions; he (she/it?) was capable of recognizing human emotions and reacting appropriately, making him “kindly, endearing, and surprising.” Since then, Pepper has been learning how to earn a living and now even greets customers — in different languages — at a major banking group in Japan.

The latest news — announced jointly by Pizza Hut ( pizzahut.com) and MasterCard ( www.mastercard.us) — is that he will be replacing servers in some selected restaurants in Japan. In terms of customer interaction, Pepper will be able to sense your emotional state, determine whether you need help in ordering, carry on an engaging conversation, and even tell a few jokes. On the business side of things, he will employ the MasterPass payment service, so you can order food and make simple and secure payments on the spot.

Whether this is a direct response to fast-food worker’s demands for wages of $15/hour is debatable, but it’s probably a factor. After all, Pepper’s base price is $1,789 in US currency. Let’s say you put him to work 16 hours per day, seven days per week. At $15/hour, he pays for himself in 7. 5 days. The good news is that he isn’t available in the US yet, so there’s still time to go back to school.