Forgotten robots of Chernobyl: a short documentary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 พ.ค. 2024
- A new short documentary from us! Many of you watched the HBO "Chernobyl" mini-series and recall the Joker robot that stopped functioning nearly instantly after it was deployed. The true story, however, is much bigger and more interesting. In this episode, we will talk about the remote-controlled equipment and experimental robotics that played a crucial role in the aftermath of the 1986 Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster and the subsequent exploration of the Sarcophagus enclosing Unit 4.
Through our research, we provide an overview of the various types of robots employed from 1986 to 1988 - covering their design, capabilities, and the challenges they faced while navigating the hazardous environment within the power plant. We included rare documental references and archival footage that will help to understand how those machines worked and what it looked like to operate them.
Additionally, using unique documents of the PO KOMBINAT - the main management company of the Zone in 1986-88, we give you a detailed picture of the conditions at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant during that years, which will help you to understand, why some robots succeeded, and others failed.
Cover image (STR-1 control panel at Jupiter Factory in Pripyat) courtesy of Carsten Olsen.
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What you will find in this episode:
00:00 - Intro
00:39 - Good news about Scout robot restoration
01:03 - Understanding the conditions at the Chernobyl NPP
01:31 - Contamination of the ChNPP site
02:17 - Probably, the very first Chernobyl robot ever
02:51 - Contamination of roofs.
04:31 - Who was responsible for robotics in the Zone?
05:00 - T-130M remotely-controlled bulldozer
06:03 - D155W Komatsu for underwater works
04:41 - Klin-1 Tank-Based robotic complex
08:56 - RR-1 Scout Robot
10:00 - Beloyarets
11:00 - TR-A1 transport robot
12:05 - German MF-2 Joker robot
13:24 - German MF-3 robot for nuclear industry
14:00 - STR-1 - perhaps, the most successful machine
16:30 - TR-G1, TR-B1, Antoshka, Vovochka, and other creations of the Institute of Robotics and Cybernetics
18:15 - Forestri and a Dump Truck
19:05 - Mobot-Ch-Hv
20:21 - Liebherr robotic crane
20:54 - A dark secret of Elephant Foot
22:54 - Modular system of robots by KB Pivdenne
23:53 - Robots of ISTC Shelter - TR-4, TR-5, TR-7, Magnetic Crawler, TR-11, DKA VL
26:00 - Outro - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
![ตรงที่เดิม - ฝน พรสุดา [ต้นฉบับ :เบส ขวางหวัน]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/c5YnbGEztI8/mqdefault.jpg)
The toyshop robot sounds like a very interesting story, I'd certainly like to hear more about that clever solution.
Surely will try to get more information and actully rebuild it. There is one old chronicle where you can see it, I called a few guys in the Zone, they remember but no one can recall the name of the video.
i too would love to hear more about the remote control toyshop robot. Or even build a replica would be so cool.
Really interesting! I didn’t realise there were so many different robots used. Interested in seeing how spot from Boston Dynamics stands up to intense radiation. Thank you for sharing this rare history with us!
Thank you! By my memories, as I have been there many times, I can't say that in front of the Shelter the radiation is THAT extreme, it is just around 70-100 uSv/h. Near cascade wall is much more, and absolutely more is on the roof. However, we will see how that robot will work inside, where levels estimated in hundreds of milliSv at least - there is such a plan to make a radiation survey system based on it.
Wow. That is a perfect task for a robot.
The K155W was a development of the world's first radio-controlled earthmover, a bulldozer demonstrated by Komatsu all the way back in 1967. Many K155Ws, some over fifty years old, are still in use in Japan.
Их осталось всего 5 шт
Thank you for those details!
What a formidable insight of all of what has been created.
I only knew the story of the Lunochod sibling and the remote controlled bulldozer. I have never imagined that so many different machines had been built. And in a hurry. The amount of work done is impressive. I also never knew that the roof of unit 3 was mostly cleaned by machines.
All of what has been learned at the time is invaluable for pursuing the cleanup of the plant, but also has some good use for decommissioning old reactors all over the world. You're doing invaluable work compiling all of these facts, data and stories.
Thank you very much. So far, this was the most complex video we made... but much more to go :)
A video about current and future robots would be very interesting, please make it! Thank you for very interesting content.
Thank you! We'll talk with SSE ChNPP and ISTC, and will make
This deserves 1 million views
Hopefully...!
Another great video. I always learn something new from Your videos and this one is not an exception. I even didn't know there were so many types of robots used in Chernobyl and one of the interesting things it that Joker was used even before STR-1 and his failure was even more interesting because it started to move by itself. Anyway thank You for your work. Stay safe!
Thank you! In fact Joker was ordered from Germany nearly instantly after the disaster, while Kemudzian's office got order for STR much later.
Hmm, the elephant foot decomposing into grains!? That should make removal easier 😃It's easy (for me) to forget how much chemical degradation occurs with ionizing radiation. Great presentation, thank you!
Happy that you liked it!
No, i had no idea that the "elephant foot" was changing.
Thank you very much for making these videos. I live on the east coast of Sweden ~100km from Forsmark NPP that first detected the radiation from the accident in the west.
I remember that my mom had to make two meals. One from moose or deer for my parents (dad is a hunter) and one with meat from the store to us kids.. To much becquerel i the wild life meat for us kids to eat..
I really hope this war will be over soon so i can make a visit to Chernobyl..
Thank you for sharing! And you are warmly welcome here!
Awesome work, guys!
Thank you!
Speaking as a Kraftwerk fan, I can't possibly think of Soviet robots without immediately thinking "Я твой слуга. Я твой работник" ;)
LOL
Really interesting! I didn’t realise there were so many different robots used.
Glad that you liked! Check our other episodes..)
Amazing video!! I never new there where so much robots used.
Thank you! Well, still those are not all..)
I think its still so crazy that the joker died after so little time. That shows how high the levels were.
@@SimonSaysNL While STR-1 did not. So IMHO it is more about a proper technical task placing... there is a common belief that has certain ground, that when the order for Joker was placed, levels were lowered intentionally to avoid discoluse of how bad the situation was.
This excellent video is the needed antidote to the egregiously bad Netflix video that willfully presented falsehoods as facts. More needs to be said of the ingenuity and dedication of those who conceived, built, and operated these robots. But even as we admire these innovations, we must now pause to ask, what are the lessons learned?
Slava Ukraine.
I am pretty tired of mass-culture interpretations of Chornobyl story, so there will be much more this kind of videos. The lessons... years before I'd say as my good friend from Pripyat said - "to live in a new way so that there are no dead cities appear behind us". However, after ruzzian invasion to the Zone, with all safety breaches... I am not sure if humanity learned anything.
Glory to heroes!
What is the deal with the netflix video?
Another absolutely fascinating presentation, thanks so much for all the effort you put into all your videos. The Elephant's Foot flows - I'd assumed these were similar to pyroclastic flows and had ended as very glass-like and homogeneous lumps. It seems counterintuitive that they would start breaking up and turning into horribly dangerous dust. Devil's Foot might be a better name. Thanks again folks, very interesting and enjoyable.
You are welcome! Well, we will at some point translate some amazing documents about FCMs on our Patreon. Those formations are really, really interesting.
Interesting, I didn't know they were able to use wireless remote controls, I always thought radiation would cause too many problems for radio receivers.
Vyacheslav Koshmyakov told it was hell of a challenge to make it reliable, but at STR-1 they did. We surely will look inside that unit at some point.
Amazing video again, thank you very much! It was so interesting to see, much of this must be all new information for most of us viewers. So many different radio controlled machines. Their developers and operators were heroes and must have felt important💪 It has been a very special skill to pioneer this kind of technology. Today, unfortunately your radio control skills are needed again, fighting a different enemy, with drones. I wonder if a disaster of this scale happened in Russia today, would they even bother to clean it up, as they don't seem to value life very much? 16:37 the titanium machine out there looks like it will last forever! 15:01 The camera was happy when it captured a beautiful lady this time, and not some reactor debris😊
Very, very true. It was really emotive to meet those who worked with all that in personal.
A video or even a series inside the new confinement would be very interesting to see as videos about it or the new cleanup procedures are quite sparse.
Thank you! Noted!
Fascinating video. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you! Glad that you liked!
Thank you for this great video.. amazing archival images and video, this is a great reference
Glad you enjoyed it! There will be much more, given we are working on 2 robots.
Great video awesome description information I've never seen before thank you for the video
Check the most recent episode which is just went out :)
Realy well made!
Many thanks!
Very impressive. Thanks a lot for the video.
Thank you too!
Fascinating! 😻
Glad that you liked!
The West talks of Chernobyl as a past event, with never a thought given to the continuing work needed there. We really need to broker a peace deal to stop wasting resources (and lives) on pointless war, and instead work together to continue this important task. This should be an international collaboration as similar equipment is needed to reduce the cost of decommissioning other nuclear plants around the world that have reached end of life. Thanks for the great video.
I am sorry, there cannot be deal. There can be only our victory... sorry, too much we have seen before, during and after. As for Chernobyl... it is a joint project of many countries, and since orks were thrown away, it again starts to work as it was before.
Russia can end the war today. All it has to do is surrender and pay reparations. Ukraine is fighting for its life. The only peace is one where Ukraine is 100% free and Russia is defanged. Until then, Russia will always be a threat.
I have always been fascinated by Chernobyl, but your channel takes it to a whole new level. Sincere thanks for your work and technical details about the kinds of minutiae normal people don't notice. This shit is great.
Thank you! More, more to come!
Really interesting, thanks for making,
Glad you enjoyed it! There will be much more!
What is the meaning of the "egg" on top of the structure of the MF-3 robot? I don't understand. Many greetings.
This exhibition is next to the SP CPPRW office, the company that manages radioactive waste. They got these robots from the disposal site, so that's why there they are. They placed an egg just as a prank, kind of "a sophisticated egg delivery platform", and used to watch reactions of people from their windows.
thank you, a very interesting episode!
Glad you enjoyed it! Get reade for a new one today!
Fascinating video thanks
Glad that you liked! Check newer episodes as well...)
Goddamn, some of these early robots seem like something I could throw together drunk using whatever shit I could find at the local dump. Sheet metal bucket, 4 wheels from Ural or Dniepr bike driven probably by a car dynamo. I wonder what they used for generator engine? Zaporozec engine?
Anyway, STR1 is seriously impressive and making any of these robots in such a short timeframe was an amazing effort.
That technical level underscores well how low-prepared ussr industry was for cases like this; it looks that a need of this kind of machines was never even considered, because those strange built devices after all come from some vision, and it seems that the vision was absent.
Another fascinating video thank you. Yes to building the mini robot made from a toy tank and yes to more videos.
Thank you! Well, I'm pretty sad it get somehow a little views, but hope it will work. We want very much to make the tankbot, but still the trouble that noone can recall the technocal video the frames I presented from in this episode.
@@ChernobylFamily Good luck and as always Slava Ukraini!
2:44 If you know where to get these components to rebuild this robot that would be absolutely fascinating. as an RC hobbyist i know robotics has a long history of using available components from RC models and systems.
So, we will try!
same would be super awesome project
Please make a video on the modern robotics on the site.
Also, did you enjoy kicking Boston Dynamics robot dogs? I know I would.
That will take some time, but surely yes!
As for kicking, I did not kick it personally - there are specially designated kickers for that :))
A mighty interesting overview! I wonder if, and how, these developments contributed to the space program.
Thank you! I bet they did, at least within VNIITRANSMASH which partly was specialized in space industry, and surely within KB Pivdenne which is space-focused enterprise.
Дякую, цікаве відео!
Раді, що сподобалося. Далі буде!
Great history - well done.
Just for info, In english we pronounce “Ceramic” as if it begins with a “S” so “Ser-ram-ic” or “Sir - Ram - Ic”. But anyone would know what you mean the way you said it - so don’t worry ❤
Thank you for such clarification, given that English is not my native, such hints are deeply appreciated. In regards of this very word, all my life was a lie, seriously.
Ironically, it comes from the Greek for "pottery" - "keramikos"... and our wierd English pronunciation has "got it wrong".
I need more!
A Chernobyl TankBot is already brewing in our lab :) you can support this work via Patreon/Buymeacoffee, as every help speeds things up greatly!
Good info.
Glad that you liked!
OMG why are you even asking.. rebuild that little RC tank!
To be sure that people really want it :) yes, we are very much considering that. But still need a few meetings with old generation of liquidators who remember it 'in 3D'.
Commenting for the algorithm, very interesting video
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very interesting video :)
Thank you! Was there anything you did not know?
@@ChernobylFamily Yes, that finnish "Forestri" and many other machines :)
Yep and the bio robot
Thanks for great video! So, maybe you know what was the root cause of Joker's failure: wrong design or wrong radiation levels provided by soviets to Germans (as it was shown in Chornobyl series)?
I am not sure that wrong design is applied: it was never intended for these conditions. Likely, the second reason you mentioned. BUT, we want to find actual order document to validate this common statement. We know a few members of the Gov't Task Force back then, this may help.
❤❤❤❤ Love from Herriman, Utah, USA ❤❤❤❤🇺🇦🇺🇸
Thank you so much! Cheers!
isnt there a new found microbe eating the foot ...thats being studied to hopefully clear radioactive waist
Radioactive source is not what you can eat - unstable atoms will remain unstable atoms no matter what you do with them.
Is Chornobyl contamination for the most part contained now or does radiation still release into the environment?
Depends what you mean under 'Chornobyl'. If power plant, then everything is confined and within the limits of ejections; if the Zone - well, it is a patchwork of hotspots, that of course have certain level of nuclide migration.
Very interesting.
Thank you!
@ChernobylFamily I also watched the computer at Chernobyl. That too is very interesting. I left a comment Awesome. And shared the video with my friends. They thought is was a really interesting too.
Thank you! Every bit of sharing helps a lot!
I didnt know that. ...... You said to write in the comments if I didnt know that. Well. I didnt know that. So I wrote in the comments.....I didnt know that. What is it that I did not know nd hence wrote that I did not know, well the thing that I id not know which caused me to write that I did not know it was the fact that the elephants foot concrete form was turning to sand form and gradually disintegrating. Well that was something that I did not know and I definately knew about the elephants foot and had heard about it and all of the various stories that existed about it, and I did also know that over time the amount of radioactive radiation being emitted was gradually reducing making it safer to go near the elephants foot closer and for longer than had previously been possible. However, what I did not know before this video was that over time not only did the radiation being emitted go down but also the actual form and structure of the elephants foot was also weakening and slowly disintegrating as it converts to a more particulate and sand like form as compared to its previous more solid and concrete form. I did not know that and as a result when you said in your video about that it was something new for me and some thing that I learnt anew. As a result when you said in the video about this and that if you dont know about this then the person watching the video should then make a comment below in the comment section and so here I am in the comment section making that comment and commenting that this was not something that I knew about. So having mentioned, as you mentioned, that I should mention that I didnt know the piece of information about the crumbling of the elephants foot, well I have mentioned it and now that it is mentioned in this comment section in a way I feel that my duty here is done. Even if it is just for this one video, for this video I feel that my job is done, my requirement is met and now I will move on with my evening.
Man, you made our day. Seriously, this is a lovely trolling :)
@@ChernobylFamily 😊
Regards from Poland 🇵🇱♥️🇺🇦
Thank you! Cheers!
Too bad that those robots were not used at Fukushima
There is different environment, so those won't fit; therefore there were used other robots, but also partially successfully.
Excellent research so many videos I have never seen before on the other TH-cam's channels that I watch from Ukraine awesome awesome❤❤❤❤
glad that you find our work interesting!
Rebuild the tank toy robot
We need to make some research work for this, but we feel it gonna be a great project.;)
@@ChernobylFamily the simplest solutions are the best
For more watch the video Children of Chernobyl
That stuff, unfortunately, we've seen with our own eyes. In our medical records.
@ChernobylFamily I remember the day and the after-effects here in Alaska and how I predicted correctly and hid from the radiation staying in my home avoiding the rain. They did not announce the arrival of the radioactive cloud, but rather the readings of the rain and the air 10 days later. My friend went walking in the rain, and I questioned him and he said he never thought about it. I think Fukushima was a bigger event for Alaska. The next summer was the first time the entire continent of Greenland melted on the surface. Arnie Gunderson, a GE nuclear scientist worried about the Mark 1 reactor, said the nanoparticles expelled with daughter radiations maintain a temperature of more than 1,000 degrees. Heavier than lead, it surrounds itself with hydrogen bubbles when it's in the ocean, keeping it afloat. Fortunately, dilution is the solution, as it concentrates in the ocean, rather than being launched into deep space, the only place it can be diluted. At the wpss waste facility in New Mexico, the bright idea of using environmentally friendly kitty litter instead of clay is representative of the critical knowledge lost to copy and paste of the next generation of nuclear scientists. And next to the chain-link fence surrounding the waste facility are many oil wells, one at Each corner and in between call mom sucking the oil out from land that is not to be disturbed for eternity, above the southeast corner of the Ogallala Aquifer that extends all the way to South Dakota, uranium mining in New Mexico by pumping chemicals into the water table that serve the Farms, releasing the bonds that hold the uranium in place and sucked out with well water and then filtered out and returned. The farmers appealed and wanted it cut off but instead the nuclear Regulatory Commission allowed them to double their operation size. A residential neighborhood built on top of a top-secret and forgotten nuclear waste sight. And some idiot put the Columbia River next to Hanford reservation. Disney made a movie about how safe it is, pass-through reactor Cooling may be beneficial to The Fishery. Rocky Flats plutonium processing facility call built north of where I grew up in the middle of nowhere, now has houses built up to the Border fence. The homebuyers obviously we're not from town, and are suffering the consequences. North of Denver Colorado.
Poland and Ukraine has always been a pain in my heart, until Gorbachev tore down the Walls, it was all an illusion in the end.
I look forward to the central heating plants in Moscow becoming irreparable November 21st, one-of-a-kind of Transformers feeding high-voltage lines melting into puddles. I don't like my mind creating thoughts such as this, words I pray. The population protesting en mass,, overwhelming any security system with all in attendance. Or they can stay home and have their sons and husbands brothers and Friends turned into sausage. It's not only ukrainians who are the victims, as they sleep, they are the ones being killed, Ukraine is just the stage. And Donald Trump, honored host, that made it all possible, even though he was unable to get the Americans out of Germany before he Departed the presidency, though he did order it and try to get it done, the military failed to obey him. Something about contracts or you know we just couldn't walk away like that, one of his defeats. All hands on the globe in Saudi Arabia, all his friends, our nation's number one enemies. With Facebook, the great divider, responsible for genocide of the rohingya people, brexit, Murdoch media. An orwellian world. Mutually assured destruction seems guaranteed, Mother Nature is pissed.
Heak yeah let’s see that little guy!
And it is going well... see www.patreon.com/posts/chernobyl-update-89503359 :)
I wonder why no one has built a pneumatic controlled tobot?
It is an interesting question. There existed hydraulic systems, such as mentioned Forestri manipulators, but looking at their size, I guess the reason why this kind of machines were not widespread was a complexity, size and weight of executive mechanisms.
Love omission of extra english words in sentence!
Well, given that English is not my native language (Ukrainian is), I will DEEPLY appreciate any corrections to help me to improve, but please, be specific.
Edit: I accidentally have omitted a word ;)
A "test polygon" ? I have heard thst word used for military test ranges, does it mean something in Russian other than "multicornered shape" ?
In russian not sure, in Ukrainian it can mean also a 'dedicated site'. Well, still need to improve my English I guess :)
@@ChernobylFamily Your English is very good and lightyears ahead of my Ukrainian ;) , understandably there are special words that originate in your language like "complex" that have to be understood in the way they are used. I wondered about the use of polygon for some time now, thanks for clearing that up :)
Did the swedish robots play any important role in this, or where they not functionl in the high radiation areas?
I do not recall using of Swedish robots in that period of time; let me ask some people from the Zone.
@@ChernobylFamily Thank You, was it to Japan, perhaps and i mixing it up in my head? However this video was super interesting as always! I did not know that much about some of those before, all of them where genuinely interesting to hear about and particulary the titanium "moon car" which i did not find that much in depth information about before, i really hope as much as possibly will be preserved on the museum! Perhaps those drawings who seem to be laying around can be photocopied by rigging up a frame with a camera or some company sponsor with a book scanner in the future so they can be documented and preserved.
Гарно не знав що стільки всяких роботів використовували
І це тільки частина...
@@ChernobylFamily не плануєте україномовний канал звести с перекладами відео, що вже опублікували?
Hey! I work as a tool and die machinist I have access to millions of dollars of manufacturing equipment, CNC Milling machines and I have all the experience needed, I could use the channel content. Let me know if you wanna do something!
For Re-Making the Scout Robot
so why was there an egg on mf-3?
That was an internal Zone's joke:)
Amazing. I've never done this before, and I probably never will again, but I seem to be the first commenter. 😹
Yes you are!
I didn't know that
:)
Info here is about two years old.
Well, the video is also not very receny published :)
I'm so sorry! This comment was posted to another video, summarizing 'The best drones for 2024'. It probably ended up being posted here during TH-cam 'autoplay' change of channels.
Again, I'm sorry if I seemed rude! 😓
I really enjoy your videos since I have been very interested in Soviet 'hightech' for many years and I definitely don't have any complaints! Keep them coming! ❤️
EDIT: Yes, I checked my TH-cam history and your video is chronologically immediately after said drone video - which was a clickbait. I'm going to remove my comment after you read this, changing it to something showing my appreciation for your video instead! 🙂
/M
Don't worry, even opposite - you made me think I need to make a continuation...)
@@ChernobylFamily Слава Україні! 🇺🇦🇸🇪
Героям слава!
Додайте, будь ласка українські субтітри.
Сьогодні будуть!
@@ChernobylFamily Дякую.
Субтитри додано!
💗☢
Thank you!