Spot the robot dog, seen here sporting a radiation-proof suit, has continued to work on the decommissioning of Sellafield.
Spot made its debut on the Sellafield site in October, and has completed its first shift in an active area by collecting valuable information through laser scanning and gamma radiation imaging.
The robot completed its work wearing a specially designed suit, which protected it from radioactive contamination.
Spot is being overseen by Sellafield Ltd, working with Cumbria-based engineering consultant Createc, the UK Atomic Energy Authority and its US manufacturer Boston Dynamics.
Chris Hope, remediation capability development manager at Sellafield, said: “This was a really challenging task – we deployed Spot into a complex, cluttered, highly contaminated area with a mission to capture information. The quality of the data we captured is fantastic and will help us with our decommissioning and waste planning.
“Until now, this type of survey has relied on our operators manually deploying equipment in hazardous environments wearing full protective equipment. This proves that Spot can help us take humans away from harm. This allows us to free up our workers to deliver other value-adding work.
“The protective suit did its job too: the robot was monitored and cleared by our health physics team, and was able to leave the Sellafield site.”
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