NEI Nuclear Notes

Of course, our favorite fictional robot is the ED-209 from the original RoboCop (1987). It’s a slightly glitchy death machine that cannot be turned off reliably and has considerable difficulty managing stairs. It’s also one of the last great uses of stop motion animation before the arrival of CGI, but that’s another discussion. I was reminded of the ED-209 by this bit from a report from the DARPA Robotics Challenge: Before the games began, a DARPA representative said something pretty funny: He expected most or all of the robots to fall down at some point. And he was right. Which is only reinforced by the rules of contest: The rules are simple — each humanoid robot has one hour to score eight points for various tasks, which include driving a car, opening a door, pulling a lever and climbing some stairs. Climbing some stairs! The reverse of what foiled ED. Anyway, the DARPA challenge was motivated by the 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi. "Rob...