WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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I am not inside a fusion reactor. It'd be
wonderful if I was,

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the Joint European Torus reactor here at Culham
Centre for Fusion Energy

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is behind some blast doors just a few metres
away,

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but that's not really somewhere humans are
meant to go.

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Not even for maintenance: it's not really
dangerous

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in the same way that current nuclear power
plants are,

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but it contains toxic beryllium and low-level
radioactive... stuff.

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This is the mockup version of the reactor,

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used for training. And by the way,

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if the camerawork here seems a little bit
odd,

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that's because it's being done by... well,
here.

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Meet my camera operator.

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Say hi!

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I was going to say that my camera operator
is a robot,

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but that's not strictly true either. This
isn't a robot,

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it can't carry out anything automatically:

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instead, it's a remote handling arm. Basically,

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it's an extension of John over in the control
room.

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It's not as versatile as a human arm,

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but it's got enough degrees of freedom.

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You are actually there, at that point,

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and not detached from it in a control room.

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You don't even realise you're doing it.

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You're actually thinking about the job as
you're there,

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and you're imagining all the components around
you.

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Certainly from the views, we have a VR model
as well,

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which gives us good detail, so from that you
actually work at the coalface

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imagining that the items are there right next
to you.

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It's got very good feedback. Even down to
something as thick as a layer of tape.

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If you were to put that on a smooth surface
and run the grip across it

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you'd be able to feel that level of detail.

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We have to service the ceiling as well,

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so the transporter will drive the manipulator

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upside down and up into position

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so the operator stays in this position, but
gravity changes.

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So we have to teach the operators to deal
with that as well.

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There are all sorts of cool technologies for
remote presence

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that could be used one day.

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Virtual reality. Gesture recognition. 3D cameras.

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All of which would be great: if they work
reliably, every time,

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and if they'll still work and be supported
after

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10, 20 or 30 years of use in a radioactive
environment.

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This system can't be experimental, it can't
be risky,

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because the only way to fix or upgrade this
robot arm inside a reactor

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is to send in a human.

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You don't take risks for something like this:

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you use something that is known to work safely.

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And I did ask whether I could have a go controlling
the remote handling arm.

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For all those same reasons, the answer was
yes... but very, very slowly.

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