On Mar 19, 2011, at 5:35 PM, YES NOPE9 wrote:

> Where are all the cool toys ?  Miniature and larger sized ground =20
> based robots for looking at bad places ?  Devices with treads and =20
> cameras that relay images and other data back to humans ...

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2011/03/20/irobot-on-its-way-to-japan/

But don't forget that this isn't just a nuclear plant that went bad =20
all by itself.
That region of Japan has experienced a devastating earthquake and =20
tsunami, and it has all sorts of "other problems" over and above (?) =20
the annoying Nuke issues.  Estimates of 20000 dead (8k+ confirmed, 10k=20
+ unaccounted for.)  Infrastructure damage.  Refugees.  Lack of food, =20
water, and shelter.  Disaster management.

While US-side news focuses on the "impending nuclear disaster", I =20
would suspect that that part is a comparatively well-understood subset =20
of everything that is actually going on.  And I hope that most of the =20
"cool toys" are looking for victims and helping the people who will be =20
dead in a week or a month from immediate causes, rather than the =20
(probably much smaller) count of people that might develop cancer in a =20
couple of decades IF the power plant continues down its unlucky path =20
of worst-case scenarios...

BillW

--=20
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