Scientists designing AI robots to work in Earth's most extreme places

Experts in the United Kingdom are designing AI-powered robots to work in some of the most hazardous places on Earth and outer space. University of Manchester researchers have been advising government and energy sector leaders on the safe development of AI robots being used in extreme environments. The University of Manchester said "hot robotic" systems were originally designed to work in radioactive environments in decommissioned nuclear reactors, but found a new use in the fields of nuclear fusion power, agriculture, the energy sector, and even space exploration. The university said in a statement: "As part of an ambitious R&D program to maintain UK leadership in robotic technologies, Manchester experts are applying AI technologies to'hot robotics' as they will increasingly need to act independently of human operators as they enter a range of danger zones to carry out highly complex tasks. "An important challenge in the nuclear industry is to improve robot autonomy so that the technology can be used to deliver safer, faster and cheaper decommissioning of legacy power stations and other radioactive facilities at sites such as Sellafield and Dounreay.