 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Tokyo (AFP) April 21, 2011 Two underwater robots operated by a joint US-Japanese team have searched a bay in northeast Japan for bodies of victims swept away by a tsunami nearly six weeks ago, officials said Thursday. Although the Micro-ROV robots failed to spot any corpses in the search on Tuesday and Wednesday, they found that the fishing port of Minami Sanrikucho was free of major underwater obstacles and could be reopened soon. "The water in the port is still so murky that it is very difficult to inspect visually," said local fishery promotion official Akihiro Dazai. "The robots' sonar and video cameras could check what it was like underwater," he told AFP by telephone. "We've confirmed that fishing boats can reach unloading berths without a major hindrance." The backwash of the tsunami, which followed a 9.0-magnitude quake on March 11, was found to have dragged steel and lumber frames of buildings to the edge of a breakwater where they posed no danger to fishing vessels in the port famous for its autumn salmon haul. Town mayor Hitoshi Sato told local media: "The fishery industry is a pillar of our recovery plan. The search result has given us a boost to reopen the fishing port at an early date." The quake and tsunami have left more than 27,000 dead or missing and put a nuclear power plant in danger of a catastrophic meltdown. Of the 18,000 people in Minami Sanrikucho on the rugged Pacific coast in Miyagi prefecture, some 450 were killed and 640 others went missing. Some 3,880 houses were washed away. The search was conducted by the International Rescue System Institute, a Japanese nonprofit organisation led by Tohoku University professor Satoshi Tadokoro who specialises in studying disaster rescue robots and systems. It was joined by the US Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue led by Robin Murphy of Texas A and M University. The joint team moved Thursday to another tsunami-devastated town of Rikuzen Takata to the north to conduct a similar search there on Friday and Saturday. The robots are 40 centimetres (16 inches) high by 66 wide and 66 long and are remotely operated.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links All about the robots on Earth and beyond!
S. Korean firm unveils robot playmate for kidsSeoul (AFP) April 20, 2011 South Korean telecoms operator KT on Wednesday rolled out a robot playmate for children in a move aimed at cashing in on the potentially lucrative industry. Kibot, which has a monkey face and a display panel on its body, can read books, sing songs, play online games and wheel around with its cheeks blinking and head tilting. The robot, about 20 centimetres (eight inches) tall, also allow ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook
