Development of a Small Survey Robot with a Step-Climbing Ability

To survey a water leakage of Unit 3 Primary Containment Vessel hatch in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, a small remotely-operated robot was developed. On this robot a smartphone was mounted as a camera and its body was manufactured by a 3D printer. The feature of this robot is that it has the abilities to pass a narrow crank aisle and to climb a 50 mm high-step which is about half as tall as its overall height. This step-climbing ability resulted from the mount of a climbing nose and a supporting tail, in addition, an improvement of crawlers.