Cleaning up Nuclear Waste Is an Obvious Task for Robots

But designing ’bots that can do it is hard

Japan’s Chiba Institute of Technology Future Robotics Technology Center (fuRo) present their latest amphibious robot, Sakura №2, developed for possible use in decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Photo: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images

Some people worry about robots taking work away from human beings, but there are a few jobs that even these sceptics admit most folk would not want. One is cleaning up radioactive waste, particularly when it is inside a nuclear power station — and especially if the power station in question has…