Centauro: A Robot Designed To Deal With Nuclear Catastrophes

Sometimes humans can't just handle everything, especially when it comes to dangerous or even deadly jobs such as deal with nuclear catastrophes. Even radiation suits are not protective enough for our body to sustain such conditions. And so, robots can be a perfect alternative.

Scientists in the United Kingdom are building up a robot (which looks like a centaur) intended to operate in hazardous conditions for normal humans. It is promising that someday these robots can be a great solution for cleaning up contaminated environment such as in nuclear disasters.

According to Horizon magazine, this robot is called Centauro and while it is only 1,5 meters tall, its weight is about 90 kgs. Centauro's frame is aluminium and other light metals. The skin, however, is 3D-printed plastic.

As you would anticipate from its name, Centauro looks to some extent like a centaur, with the torso of humans and the lower part of the body resembles horses. According to researcher Sven Behnke, this feature helps the robot stand more steady than if it had 2 legs.

Centauro has 4 wheels in which would be its feet. In real-world-like tests, the bot figured out how to climb stairs, find out debris, and overcome gaps. Centauro also has 2 hands with flexible fingers to deal with dexterous tasks such as lifting subjects, unlocking doors or operating tools.

At some extent, this robot is autonomous, for instances when is asked to lift subjects or move to somewhere it can do it without control. In most cases though, it is controlled by an operator with a head-mounted device that enables them to share the vision with Centauro. These operators will also control Centauro with a special suit designed to read their movements and let Centauro copy them.

As indicated by Behnke, the robot isn't prepared to explore hazardous environments right away. Yet, later on, this type of robot could turn out to be priceless assets for mankind in case of another atomic catastrophe like Chernobyl or Fukushima.

Watch what this special robot is capable of: