I always used to wonder why Japanese technologists and scientists were so busy making robots for playing violins, playing with kids, playing football and the like, but not robots that could handle situations like the one at the Fukushima nuclear plant. There are many brave people right now fighting a battle that could cost them their lives.
Japan has such amazing technologies: Couldn't it have had an army of robots standing next to the overheated fuel rods and pouring water on them. Isn't the purpose of a robot to do what humans cannot do physically without harming themselves?
I am sure now that someone will have this suggestion passed on to the people concerned so that the human loss in such crises because of the lack of proper robots can be eliminated.