New robot dog Spot turning heads at OPG
At Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, a newly acquired “robot dog” is drawing plenty of attention with its impressive and agile tricks.
Spot, a mobile robot produced by Boston Dynamics, is a four-legged, yellow marvel that can spin, walk, and climb to safely and efficiently perform inspections while being controlled by an intuitive tablet application.
Since being delivered to the station in November, the 25-kilogram robot has been undergoing training with OPG and the Boston Dynamics technical team to perform tasks normally performed exclusively by operators under challenging conditions.
“This is a huge win for OPG and makes us an industry leader for innovation in remote monitoring and inspections,” said Neil Mohan, a Shift Manager at Pickering Nuclear who helped make the case for acquiring the robot. “This machine will help protect our workers, save costs, and provide many other efficiencies for the station.”
The state-of-the-art robot is already proving its use case at OPG, particularly through its ability to support inspections of areas normally inaccessible to human operators.
“This machine will help protect our workers, save costs, and provide many other efficiencies for the station.”Neil Mohan, Shift Manager at Pickering Nuclear Generating Station
In December, the robot was lent out to Pickering’s sister station, Darlington Nuclear, where it was put through its paces to help support inspections inside Unit 2’s vault. The robot was accompanied by Pickering’s Eddy Zhou, one of the lead nuclear operators working with Spot, and controlled remotely.
Outfitted with an electronic personal dosimeter, Spot was able to deftly navigate stairs, walkways, and other obstacles to help sniff out potential conventional or radiological hazards, all while being remotely controlled.
Naturally, OPG employees are excited about Spot’s potential uses. It can navigate hard-to-reach areas like boiler rooms, moderator rooms, pressure relief ducts, and fuel conveyor tunnels to perform important inspections, protecting workers from unnecessary safety risks while also saving on costs and time.
While Pickering already utilizes other robots in its fleet for inspections, Spot is “simply more versatile because it is a quadruped,” said Zhou. The robot’s four legs allow it to easily climb up stairs where other robots cannot. It can also sense and avoid obstacles and even open up doors.
Pickering’s Spot is currently equipped with a 360-degree, high-resolution camera that relays valuable information and visuals to station staff. Its abilities could be expanded in the future as OPG collaborates with Boston Dynamics to add more useful features, including potentially a robotic arm or infrared cameras.
In the meantime, the Pickering team will continue to push the little guy to its limits to see what it is capable of and to teach this shiny new dog some new tricks.
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