What’s the News: Japan has finally called in the robots to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, dispatching this red AKA Monirobo that is equipped with radiation detectors, temperature and humidity sensors, and a 3-D camera. What’s the Olds: This particular robot is one of a suite of earthquake rescue bots that Japan has at its disposal.
80beats has covered Japanese robotic wonders such as the first robot marathon runners and catwalk-strutting robots as well. (If you’re wondering why such a tech-savvy, robot-friendly country didn’t deploy robots earlier, Reuters has a couple of guesses: old, robot-unfriendly reactor design, and a surprisingly anachronistic tendency to leave humans in charge of some easily automated tasks, “such as operating elevators and warning motorists of road construction.”)
Japanese engineers have also created robots that express emotion.
And one nuclear facility is mere parsley on the fish compared to Japan’s big goal of launching a robot to the moon. Not So Fast: It isn’t clear how much work (if any) the AKA Monirobo is accomplishing thus far.

Image: Asahi Shimbun