Quince

Three months after the March 2011 tsunami, a Japanese research robot became the first to map radiation inside the Fukushima Daiichi reactor buildings: Quince, developed since 2009 by the Future Robotics Technology Center (fuRo) of Chiba Institute of Technology with Tohoku University and the International Rescue System Institute, was modified for TEPCO and entered the plant from June 2011.

The Fukushima version weighs 32 kg (the original 26.4 kg), measures 70 × 49 × 15 cm, carries 20 kg and runs at 1.6 m/s (5.8 km/h) for about 3 hours on lithium-ion batteries. Main tracks plus four independently pivoting track arms (flippers) let it climb stairs and cross rubble; the original design was water- and dust-tight and survived a 2 m drop.

Inside Fukushima it was tethered by cable and carried a PTZ camera, a bird's-eye camera, front, rear and ceiling cameras, a microphone, a loudspeaker and a dosimeter, sampling airborne radioactivity and photographing the interior. Several units (Quince 1 to 3) were built; one remains stranded in reactor building 2. As a research robot it had no list price.

Germany's nuclear emergency service KHG fills the same role professionally with the MF4, far heavier but equipped with a manipulator and a high-dose measuring system; Quince showed how a 30 kg platform can go where dose rates exclude people.