Image of the week
Nao, the robot who speaks fusion
19 Jun 2023
Standing against the backdrop of the SPIDER vacuum vessel at Consorzio RFX, in Padua, Italy, is Nao The Robot. He was brought there by students from the local secondary school Liceo Scientifico Fermi who are participating in Italy's national @NAO Challenge, an educational competition that aims to deepen students' knowledge of robotics and disseminate the social potential of service robotics.
Nao The Robot, standing against the backdrop of the SPIDER vacuum vessel at Consorzio RFX, in Padua, Italy. "Trained" by students from the local secondary school Liceo Scientifico Fermi, Nao can now answer almost any question on fusion-related scientific issues and the work performed at Consorzio RFX.
Aged 14 to 17 the Fermi students decided to program their robot to act as a guide at Consorzio RFX—an Italian research laboratory that has been investigating plasma physics and controlled nuclear fusion since 1996 and is host to the ITER Neutral Beam Test Facility. Although the students had some familiarity with fusion, they required more detailed information on the test facility where ITER neutral beam injection, an auxiliary heating system, will be tested before ITER operation.
Following their visit and conversations with researchers, they finalized their narrative and transferred it to Nao, who can now answer almost any question on fusion-related scientific issues and the work performed at Consorzio RFX.
Information courtesy of Maria Teresa Orlando, of Consorzio RFX, and Federico Rizzotto, of Università di Padova.