ROBOCAL: Gamma-ray isotopic hardware/software interface

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6046383

Hurd, J R; Bonner, C A; Ostenak, C A; Morrison, R E; Staley, H C; Fleissner, J G; Coressel, T W; Yee, D C

ROBOCAL, presently being developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, is a full-scale prototypical robotic system for remotely performing calorimetric and gamma-ray isotopics measurements of nuclear materials. It features a fully automated vertical stacker-retriever for storing and retrieving packaged nuclear materials from a multi-drawer system, and a fully automated, uniquely integrated gantry robot for programmable selection and transfer of nuclear materials to calorimetric and gamma-ray isotopic measurement stations. Since ROBOCAL is to require almost no operator intervention, a mechanical control system is required in addition to a totally automated assay system. The assay system must be a completely integrated data acquisition and isotopic analysis package fully capable of performing state-of-the-art homogeneous and heterogeneous analyses on many varied matrices. The TRIFID assay system being discussed at this conference by J. G. Fleissner of the Rocky Flats Plant has been adopted because of its many automated features. These include: MCA/ADC setup and acquisition; spectral storage and analysis utilizing an expert system formalism; report generation with internal measurement control printout; user friendly screens and menus. The mechanical control portion consists primarily of two detector platforms and a sample platform, each with independent movement. Some minor modifications and additions are needed with TRIFID to interface the assay and mechanical portions with the CimRoc 4000 software controlling the robot. 6 refs., 5 figs., 3 tabs.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 6046383
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-89-2301; CONF-890736-55; ON: DE89015271
• Resource Relation: Conference: 30. annual meeting of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, Orlando, FL, USA, 9-12 Jul 1989; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
ROBOTS
COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE
AUTOMATION
CALORIMETRY
DATA ACQUISITION
EXPERT SYSTEMS
GAMMA DETECTION
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
DETECTION
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
RADIATION DETECTION
420203* - Engineering- Handling Equipment & Procedures
400600 - Radiation Chemistry