Enryu’s 15-foot arms are powerful enough to lift a small passenger car,
and its hands are almost as dexterous as a human being’s. And the
5-ton, 11.5-foot robot may soon be helping communities across Japan
reach avalanche sites and clear snow, as the nation struggles to deal
with its snowiest winter in decades. Great photo.
A model tested Thursday in Niigata prefecture, at the heart of
Japan’s snow country, has two hydraulically operated arms with a reach
of 16 feet, each capable of lifting 1,102 pounds, according to company
spokesman Shiro Fujita.
In the tests, Enryu successfully lifted a car from deep snow and
simulated knocking ice and snow off rooftops with the help of a
sophisticated, Fujita said.
Tmsuk originally developed Enryu — or "rescue dragon" in Japanese — as a robot to assist in earthquake rescue operations.
"But after all the problems regions had with snowfall this winter,
we decided to test if we could adapt Enryu to handle snow-related
disasters," Fujita said.
Record amounts of snowfall in Japan this season has snarled traffic,
cut off mountain villages and killed at least 102 in snow-related
accidents, according to latest government figures.
Fitted with seven cameras and mounted on a tread similar to a
military tank, Enryu can also be operated by remote control to reach
hazardous areas, Fujita said.
The Kyushu-based company, which has enlisted the help of a a
university robotics research center and several local governments,
hopes to unveil a finished version by next year.
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