An autonomous robot has been used to inspect the inside of a fusion energy facility for the first time as part of efforts to make maintenance more cost-efficient and safer for humans.

The 35-day trial took place at the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s Joint European Torus (JET) facility, which until its recent scientific operational shutdown was one of the largest and most powerful fusion research machines in the world.

Researchers said the JET facility provided the ideal opportunity to test the ‘AutoInspect’ platform developed by the Oxford Robotics Institute. It used a robot developed by Boston Dynamics called ‘Spot’ to investigate an environment still hazardous after two high-powered deuterium-tritium experiments in the space of three years.

The facility consists of a tokamak fusion system with a doughnut-shaped vacuum chamber. It is in this chamber where, under the influence of extreme heat and pressure, gaseous hydrogen fuel became a plasma as part of the many tests carried out during...