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IGCAR trying to develop robots

PUDUCHERRY: The Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam, is trying to develop robots that will work in radio active environment, Director Baldev Raj said on Thursday.

“The next revolution, which is coming up fast, is robots that can work in industries, nuclear energy plants and space shuttles. Robots will become essential security and healthcare equipment,” he said, addressing the fourth Indo-Australian Conference on IT Security, ‘Information Assurance in 21st Century: Making it Happen,’ at Pondicherry University.

At the same time, Mr. Raj said, robots could also carry information and perform most of the tasks human beings could do. “We are developing robots, which can work in radioactive environment to examine reactors. We are also developing robots, which can work without our supervision. They will have built-in knowledge and functions.”

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh calling for harnessing nuclear energy for electricity generation, IGCAR will enhance its capacity with the Fast Breeder Reactors being set up at Kalpakkam.

“We have the technology, and everything depends on uranium resources. We are building fast breeder reactors at Kalpakkam. By 2050, 250 giga watts of electricity will be generated,” Mr. Raj said. The first reactor with a capacity to generate 500 megawatts electricity would be ready by 2010.There could be billions of sensors looking at climate changes, terrorism, drug trafficking and movement of essential commodities. How can we be sure that information here has not been tampered with? We have robust science and technology to handle it,” he said.

The Ramanujan School of Mathematics and Computer Science and the Department of Computer Science of Pondicherry University organised the conference, along with Indian Institute of Technology-Madras and the Queensland University of Technology, Australia.

Vice-Chancellor J.A.K Tareen said efforts were on to make university campus Wi-Fi in 2-2-3 months.

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