Could drones save us from nuclear waste?

Press

Could autonomous drones be used to transport hazardous materials to safety?

That’s what engineers at Imperial College London are aiming for with their newest project, which uses robotic drones to move objects.

And they say their system could be used to safely dispose of objects such as nuclear waste containers in the future.

The team is led by Dr Mirko Kovac, director of the Aerial Robotics Laboratory.

HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS

The flying 3D-printer and collection system consists of two robots.

One robot is a quadcopter with four blades, which is used to dispense polyurethane foam through a nozzle.

Through a system of 16 infrared cameras, the robot then ‘prints’ the foam onto the target, such as a nuclear waste-filled container.

Next the second, a hexacopter with six blades, steps in.

On the bottom of this drone is a flat surface which the foam previously laid by the first robot adheres to when it lands on the target.

This drone then flies away with the object, taking it to a safe location.

This method allows a wide array of objects to be collected, no matter the shape.

The project is known as ‘3D printing with flying robots’ and has been in developed over the past 12 months, starting life as a tank-like robot before taking to the skies.

The group has developed flying drones that work in tandem to print sticky foam on an object and then carry it away.

One robot sprays a target with foam, and another lands on it and sticks to it.

It then takes off and transports the target to a safe distance.

This target could be a container with nuclear waste inside, that would be hazardous for humans to handle.

Although the system requires some manual input for now, in the future the team hopes to allow the robots to perform the entire task of autonomously detecting, spraying and collecting an object themselves.

This is a first step towards a concept of a robotic ‘nest’ say the engineers, where in principle a robot can construct a platform and use it to extend its range by landing to recharge, or collect and deliver objects.

‘This is an exciting first step in the lab’s development of cooperative robotic systems for building structures inspired by the natural world, in this case bird nesting behaviour,’ says Thomas Creedy, ecologist at the Natural History Museum who works with the Aerial Robotics Lab.

‘The aim is that these systems will enable a wide range of robotic applications, in particular extending the operating scope of scientific survey robots in challenging environments such as rainforests through the adaptable construction of recharging platforms or monitoring stations.