Rosie: a worker for the nuclear age

Abstract

Designed to decontaminate and dismantle aging nuclear facilities, Rosie is a construction-grade, remotely-operated worksystem capable of tearing a building down from the inside out. At the time of the Chernobyl accident, Soviet officials contacted researchers at Carnegie Mellon University about Rosie's grandmother, the Workhorse, a multipurpose, remote worksystem for the Three-Mile Island nuclear power plant. Although the system wasn't ready for release, the Chernobyl incident inspired a group of CMU researchers to form RedZone Robotics, a company that develops remote technology for hazardous environments. Now, almost a decade later, RedZone has released the Workhorse's progeny for its commercial debut.