CRASAR in Japan! Fukushima, Recovery Operations Update

Posted by admin on Apr 03, 2011 at 2:23 pm America/Chicago

I'm in Tokyo. CRASAR has had to turn down one request for marine robots,  is responding to another request for marine vehicles for recovery operations, and I'm here without robots to advise on unmanned systems for the Fukushima reactor response. It was a difficult week as the CRASAR team had to turn down the request of the Port of Hachinohe and nearby surrounding areas to use unmanned marine vehicles. Our colleagues at the International Rescue Systems Institute, particularly Prof. Fumi Matsuno and the Hachinohe Institute of Technology, set up logistics and gave generously  of their time. But delays in approvals and funding (travel exceeded our reserves so we had to get outside funding)  here in the US caused us to be unable to travel, so we lost that opportunity. Dr. Eric Steimle has pulled together an amazing set of five different marine vehicles and sensors from our members and his contacts- all man portable and can go through check through luggage- through our Roboticists Without Borders program. Everyone on the marine team remains on standby. In the meantime, I was contacted to advise with the use of robots for the Fukushima reactor incident and am here now in Japan. No robots (the authorities have already lined up the ones they want) and I am not getting within 50 miles of the plant.  Just here with our experience in post-disaster inspection with land, marine, and aerial vehicles to help transfer that experience as needed (or IF needed, as sometimes the most helpful thing to do in a disaster is just to stay out of the way). I haven't checked in with the Public Information Officer so I hope to be able to provide details within the next day. And Prof. Tetsuya Kimura from IRS has just sent a request for marine vehicles from Minami-Sanriku-Cho!   Our newest member of Roboticists Without Borders, Seabotix, has a distributor in Japan who is looking at coming to join IRS at Minami-Sanriku-Cho immediately. Then the US team would join them with a different, complementary set of marine vehicles when funding and approvals get in place. So why marine vehicles? Aren't the Japanese Self Defense Forces and the Marines (I used to be on that group's technical advisory board- go CBIRF!) with people and ships doing a massive operation? Sure- but they appear to be focusing on victim recovery and from "human assessable" approaches (wading). This still leaves critical infrastructure inspection (bridges, seawalls, navigational channels, pipelines, etc.) undone- all essential to getting the economy back going, to getting shipments of food and water in, and utilities restored. And also there is the recovery of victims under deeper water. I'll try to post more as the situation and PIO approvals permit. In the end, it's not about the technology, it's about people. So we all are keeping the Japanese people in our thoughts and prayers- the terrible impact of the disasters, the sacrifices of the Fukushima plant workers,  the awfulness of not being to find or recover the bodies of loved ones- it's just hard to comprehend.