Bobcat robots helping Japan earthquake recovery

A T300 kitted out for action in Japan

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Bobcat has sent remote controlled loaders to help the disaster recovery work following the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan.

The manufacturer said it is working with QinetiQ North America to provide unmanned loaders and associated training to aid in Japan’s recovery efforts.

Two Bobcat T300 compact tracked loaders equipped with 2m wide industrial grapple attachments have been shipped to Japan.

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It takes just 15 minutes to turn the machines into ROVs (remote operated vehicles) using Robotic Appliqué Kits from QinetiQ.

According to Bobcat, this increased safety in recovery tasks as the machines can access less stable environments without an operator in the cab.

Last week PMV reported that QinetiQ had already deployed other robots at the radiation-contaminated Ground Zero area around the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The unmanned Bobcat loaders have been kitted out with seven cameras, night vision, thermal imagers, microphones, two-way radio systems and radiation sensors and can be operated from more than a mile away to safely remove rubble and debris, dig up buried objects and carry around smaller equipment.

They can also operate with all 70 Bobcat loader attachments, such as buckets, tree cutters and hydraulic hammers and other tools that can be used to break through walls and doors.

“They will help Japan’s response teams to accomplish critical and complex recovery tasks at a safer distance from hazardous debris and other dangerous conditions,” said Bobcat.