Activities of the Creative Robot Contest for Decommissioning at National Institute of Technology (NIT), Tsuruoka College

The purpose of the Creative Robot Contest for Decommissioning is to raise students’ interest in decommissioning through robotics, contribute to the cultivation of students’ creativity, and develop not only their problem-solving ability but also their problem-finding ability. The contest assumes fuel debris removal from the lower part of the pedestal at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. This paper describes the activities of our college in the Creative Robot Contest for Decommissioning and the robot design to overcome the challenges of the 4th and 5th contests. Whereas the 4th contest was held on site, the 5th contest was held online. To evaluate the robot that we have developed, we prepared a mock-up of the contest field at our school and conducted a demonstration. In the 4th contest, our team was the only one among the participating teams to complete the task and won the award from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). In the 5th contest, we won the award from the Governor of Fukushima prefecture. The educational effects of the Creative Robot Contest for Decommissioning were great. The students who participated in the contest became more interested in decommissioning and were able to develop problem-solving skills, the ability to study independently, schedule management, and so on.