Robotic D&D: Smart Robots: (Decontamination and Dismantling)

International audienceProject' managers continually seek an ever-greater optimization of time between remote handling operations and those carried out manually; therefore, new technological solutions must be deployed. Robotics offers a great opportunity in this new field of technology to carry out, for example, samplings or remediation in hostile, cluttered surroundings. Teams in charge of dismantling at the CEA have therefore first defined robotizable functions. These functions have been assembled from existing technological blocks to arrive at robots which are operating today [RICAIII, patent: FR 2925702]. Lessons learned, particularly from experience with the RICA robot, have enabled the operating technical specifications to be fine-tuned. A new study phase has been launched applying the same principle of adapting existing, proven means. The growing role of robotics today is unquestioned. Led by research and the academic world; robots such as those equipped with wheels, tracks, feet or even helicopter rotors, are today accessible to the general public, particularly via broadening of the " open source " concept. Added to these we need tools able to manage large component deconstruction systems, like MAESTRO. Industrialization of such high-potential technological solutions has been aided by:-Easy use,-Increasing reliability,-Flexibility of " open source " solutions,-Widening skill networks, and therefore greater technical support-Lower costs. Decontamination and dismantling (D&D) projects must be able to meet a number of special demands, increasing the number of unit designs, their costs and delivery times. The complexity of dismantling works sites mean that each is a special case to be dealt with almost independently. Such a way of approaching these projects is not on the same wavelength as industry, with tool and method standardization. The answer to the challenge of operations in difficult environments is an ecosystem of functions, performed by a set of interconnected robots. The first step towards the construction of such robot teams is devoted to functions where strength is not necessary: investigating and clean-up in hostile environments. With this in mind, the CEA Marcoule teams have been given the objective of merging the strengthening commercial robotic world with the needs of D&D, and thus to improve the transversal use of the systems

Investigation Robot on Cables

International audienceThe Decontamination and Decommissioning (D&D) Operations take place in hostile environments to the human intervention. In this context, robotic systems are a solution to achieve these operations while minimizing human intervention. Among these operations, the monitoring of lengthwise plant has to be performed in places where the radioactive contaminations make hostile environments. These monitoring operations need to measure several physics parameters in several locations in a precise and safe manner. These repetitive tasks can be made by robots that are simple, small sized and easily adaptable. In this scope, a robotic system on cables has been designed to control and monitor the inside of lengthwise nuclear facilities. In lengthwise installations, the using of cables allows to increase the covered zone of the robots which is an essential quality in such places. Unlike cable-driven parallel robots used in workspaces of 2D or 3D controlled by redundant tensioning motors, the current robot moves in a 1D workspace. Thus a tractors cable controlled by one tensioning motor is used to drive the robot on carrier cables. In this paper, we will describe the first results of this work by bringing out the innovation of our system. Then, we will discuss the perspective to upgrade the actual system whose applications could be perfectly imagined outside the nuclear D&D industry

Robot humanoïde d'inspection et d'assainissement en boite gants nucléaire

Ce travail présente une évaluation de l'opportu-nité d'utiliser des robots humanoïdes en milieu nucléaire. Ce projet a utilisé la plateforme du DaRwIn-OP pour lui apporter les modifications nécessaires afin d'en faire un opérateur d'intervention en milieu nucléaire. Les deux axes de travail ont consisté à équiper l'humanoïde d'un capteur de mesure radiologique et d'une commande des bras par une caméra en champ profond. Les tests réalisés montrent la capacité de réaliser des mesures radiologiques au moyen du capteur intégré et la réalisation de frottis pour évaluer la contamination d'un objet

An humanoid robot for inspections and cleaning tasks in nuclear glove box

This article presents an opportunity evaluation of the use of humanoid robots in a nuclear environment. The project worked on the DaRwIn-OP platform to assess and carry out the modifications the robot needed to enable it to perform as an intervention operator in a nuclear location. The study had two main lines, based on equipping the humanoid with a radiological measurement capture system and with an arm command system using a depth camera. The tests performed showed the robot's ability to make radiological measurements with the built in detector and to collect swipe samples to assess the contamination of an object

OV2SLAM on EuRoC MAV Datasets: a Study of Corner Detector Performance

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Remote operated aspiration device for waste lying on the floor of casemates of the STEL installation in Marcoule

International audienceThis article describes the study project and the implementation of the aspiration remote operated device called GOBIE. This robot is being used as part of a project for waste recovery and conditioning. After a presentation of the project context, the missions and objectives of this system, together with the core features shall be detailed hereafter. This includes interesting and innovative subsystems like aspiration, communication, transport and control