In-vessel maintenance of a fusion reactor: the blind man's approach

The intensity of the radiation in a fusion reactor will make classical camera-based remote handling difficult and unreliable. The use of other radiation-resistant sensors, such as ultrasonic sensors, force sensors or optical detectors, is however not trivial for a human operator. Therefore, the methods proposed in this paper aim at supporting the operator with the interpretation of the sensor readings, the updating of a geometric model from the sensor measurements, and the planning of the best next sensing action. (authors)