1. ISU interns design robot for Sample Prep Lab
Contact info for feedback & story ideas:
Nora Heikkinen, MFC Communications, nora.heikkinen@inl.gov
Issue #63, June 14, 2016
By Nora Heikkinen
Cheers erupted from an audience peering over plywood
walls into a mock-up robotic work cell. The robot inside
had successfully transported a surrogate radioactive
sample from an inter-facility transfer box, out of its transfer
containers, into an examination instrument, and then back
again. It was a satisfying ending to a nine-month-long
project for four Idaho State University (ISU) mechanical and
nuclear engineering students serving internships at INL.
One of those students, Larinda Nichols, served a prior
INL internship. That included attending design meetings for
a new post-irradiation examination (PIE) facility. From that,
Mitchell Meyer, Director of Characterization and Advanced
PIE, assigned Nichols a senior project to demonstrate the
use of robotics in new instrument cells.
Nichols formed a team, which included fellow students
Cody Race, Jason Berrett, and Sage Thibodeau, received
approval from ISU and, with the help of INL mentor Kevin
Croft, a Senior Advisory Engineer in INL’s Environmental
Engineering & Technology Department, began work on the
project.
The students set out to design a robotic system
that would handle radioactive materials for the Sample
Preparation Laboratory, a new PIE facility to be built at
MFC. The lab will operate in conjunction with the Hot Fuel
Examination Facility, Irradiated Materials Characterization
Laboratory, and other on- and offsite facilities to provide
advanced PIE capabilities for irradiated and non-irradiated
nuclear material samples.
The group researched non-traditional remote handling
equipment. A trade study led it to choose a commercial
robot based upon program requirements and objectives.
The team also explored the use of vision technologies,
which would take the place of the shield windows typically
used in hot cell facilities. INL provided the equipment
needed for both whole-area viewing and a 3-D vision
system for close-up viewing of work.
The mock-up cell and robot designed would remotely
load and unload radioactive samples from the inter-facility
transport system (called ‘pneumatic’, Continued on next page
The intern team with their robot (right side of the photo) inside of
the mock-up cell. Left to right: Jarron Berrett, Larinda Nichols, INL
mentor Kevin Croft, Sage Thibodeau, and Cody Race.

2. works much like at a bank drive
through) and its multiple carriers,
load the sample into a micro-/nano-scale examination
instrument, such as a focused ion beam (including opening
and closing its loading drawer), and then reverse the
process. The system needed to be accurate within a
0.01 inch radius from the target location 99.99% of the
time. Also, based on the characteristics of the potential
samples, the equipment needed to be able to operate
within a radiation environment of approximately one Curie
of Cobalt-60. Any materials being examined will be less
than this level of energy, and equipment must be able to
reliably withstand operation under these conditions without
significant damage.
“This team went above and beyond expectations,”
said Croft. “It was a great pleasure working with such
intellectually voracious people. They are amazing.”
After much research and trial and error, the team built a
mock-up robotic work cell. The key piece of equipment is
the commercial 6-axis robot (plus gripper), with each joint
having 360 degrees of motion. The team programmed the
robot to complete all the necessary moves of the sample,
returning it safely into the pneumatic transfer box. This
robotic process is supported by an attached machine
vision system for object identification, location, and pickup.
In addition, the robot is capable of retrieving a dropped
sample using additional tools and teleoperations using
video monitoring screens (much like a video game).
This set up is a “departure from traditional radioactive
material handling,” Croft said. Because of the uniqueness
of the planned facility, lack of radioactive contamination,
and remote handling processes, workers will be able to
complete maintenance and repairs without exposure to
radiation. Master-slave manipulators and shielded windows
work well for the nuclear industry, however, they are
expensive to design, purchase, install and maintain. Using
robotics potentially saves money and provides a friendlier
work environment for operators.
“It’s evident that we don’t have the budgets we used to,
but equipment and fabrication costs continue to increase,”
Croft said.
The cost of the robots and vision systems are anticipated
to be much less than current technologies. Development
work, however, is still required to create equipment that
is radiation resistant, sufficiently flexible, and robust to
operate well inside the environments of typical hot cells.
The project was funded by INL, which was appreciated
by the interns.
“This was an amazing experience,” Nichols said.
Group intern projects are one way INL works with
students to enhance science technology, engineering and
math (STEM) education and build a talent pipeline for the
next generation of INL employees. INL supports college
internships, joint appointments, post-doctoral appointments,
academic visitors, and international researcher exchanges,
interactions benefit both the laboratory and the universities.
“The project results demonstrated that the direction
we’re going is do-able,” Croft said. “Like any alternative to
traditional processes, however, it needs some additional
development and vetting.”
Future work includes definitive ergonomic and economic
analyses of the proposed technologies, as well as
investigation and design of additional tools and sensors.
With a successful robotic demonstration to start, projects
continuing this line of research, whether completed by
interns or INL staff, hint at an exciting future.
MFC Matters #63 - ISU interns design robot for Sample Prep Lab June 14, 2016
(Continued from page 1)
Sage Thibodeau with the remote viewing monitors and robot control
touch pad, which allow manual operation of the robot from outside of
the cell.
The robot is programmed to remove the sample from the clear transfer
box, out of the two white sample carriers, and transport it to the
examination instrument.