A Robotic Inspector for Low-Level Radioactive Waste

Abstract

The Department of Energy has low-level radioactive waste stored in warehouses at several facilities. Weekly visual inspections are required. A mobile robot inspection system, ARIES (Autonomous Robotic Inspection Experimental System), has been developed to survey and inspect the stored drums. The robot will travel through the three- foot wide aisles of drums stacked four high and perform a visual inspection, normally performed by a human operator, making decisions about the condition of the drums and maintaining a database of pertinent information about each drum. This mobile robot system will improve the quality of inspection, generate required reports, and relieve human operators from low-level radioactive exposure.