Meet Lyra – the robot helping to go where humans can't at Dounreay
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A newly developed robot has been used to survey an inaccessible duct at the Dounreay complex in Caithness.
The machine, named Lyra, surveyed an underground radioactive ventilation duct in Dounreay’s redundant laboratories.
Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL), which is working with the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Nuclear (RAIN) Hub to develop a robot capable of accessing areas that are inaccessible or unsafe for humans to work in, said it was providing useful information to help solve the challenge of decommissioning the duct.
The RAIN Hub is a consortium of universities led by the University of Manchester.
In 2020, a group of engineers from RAIN brought a small surveying remote operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with sensors, cameras and a manipulator ‘arm’ to Dounreay. Initial trials in an inactive building provided useful information, and a limited survey in the laboratories took place last year.
As a result of this field research, the second generation robot – Lyra – was developed, with an improved package of surveying measures including LIDAR (a detection system similar to radar, but which uses lasers), multiple angle cameras, radiation probes and the ability to take swabs using the manipulator arm.
In February, the robot returned to carry out a survey of the 140m-long underfloor duct which runs under the central corridor between the laboratories.
DSRL project manager Jason Simpson said: “Now the characterisation survey is complete we have built up a comprehensive picture of the duct, which will help us make informed decisions on how the duct should be decommissioned."
RAIN Hub director Barry Lennox added: “We wanted to demonstrate that the robot could be used successfully in active areas. We added fail-safe devices, including a remote “reboot” switch, and a winch to enable us to physically retrieve the robot if it got stuck on the debris in the duct.
"The survey has demonstrated Lyra’s reliability in active areas.”
