#4s — Public Fediverse posts

Chernobyl’s Robots, or the Hackathon From Hell

When the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s #4 reactor experienced an extreme criticality event on that infamous day in 1986, the resulting steam explosion and lack of any kind of containment building meant that parts of the core were scattered throughout the site. In an extensive update to the original 2023 video, the [Chornobyl Family] covers the mad scramble to design robots to perform on-the-ground measurements, and ultimately remove all this debris for safe disposal.
The TR-1A, an early debris removal robot. (Source: Chornobyl Family, YouTube)
This essentially took the form of a hackathon, involving teams from all over the USSR and allied nations, creating the most diverse range of robots that 1980s Soviet technology and later Western technology could muster.

Many of these robots didn’t perform very well, or at all, mostly due to the bypassing of any kind of testing before deployment. Especially at the beginning of the clean-up the robots were being pushed into the high-radiation zones as soon as they were finished, with not only mechanical issues being a problem, but also with e.g. inaccurate radiation measurements by the RR-1 robot, that overstated measurements by more than a factor of ten. Meanwhile the RR-2 and RR-3 were too top-heavy and after deployment by helicopter simply tipped over. Eventually manual measurements proved to be faster and safer.

Early debris removal robots like the TR-1A were rather simplistic, with successive generations of robots over the next weeks and months improving on it. The use of a combustion engine instead of batteries provided to be a boon, as combustion engines are far less affected by radiation.

The BAER Beloyarets used an airport cart as the basis, with its electronics relying on vacuum tube technology and relays, with an internal combustion engine. This proved to be one of the most reliable designs and it’s been largely preserved on display in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, with many others of these robots also being on display around the nuclear plant or in the city of Chornobyl.

Overall an absolutely dizzying number of robotic designs were invented on the spot, adapted from existing designs or repurposed for operation in a high-radiation zone. Eventually bulldozer designs like the STR-1 helped to push radioactive debris off the roofs into containers, massively reducing the radioactive contamination of the area.

The fact that following #4’s RUD the other three RBMK units were able to keep operating safely without risks to its operators, and with the zone now safe for tourists, is a real testament to the success of the worst hackathon imaginable. Many of the lessons learned are relevant today, including during the decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi’s melted-down cores.

youtube.com/embed/kXw-VzHsktc?…

hackaday.com/2026/08/07/cherno…

#CFP Call for papers for #4sToronto: join our panel on Artificial Intelligence as a performative phenomenon.

More information here:
https://human-ist.unifr.ch/sais/en/news/all-news/34587/

#4s

What's the cost to research – to an entire discipline – of "AI" living rent-free in our heads?

@dawnnafus brilliantly lays out the loss to #STS from so many being focused on AI-hype: 24% of papers at #4S were on AI.

https://4sonline.org/news_manager.php?page=43606

What a start into the academic week: I submitted to #Aoir2026 (🤞), I filed a grant application for #stsCH2027 (the bi-annual Swiss #STS conference I will be hosting at the University of Fribourg), and I learned that our #4s open panel for Toronto was accepted 🙌

Explore the full sessions:
🔗 Software as Instrument 1 (Fri 8:30 am – 10:20 pm): https://www.xcdsystem.com/4sonline/program/b51ICpL/index.cfm?pgid=128&sid=2027
🔗 Software as Instrument 2 (Fri 10:40 am – 12:30 pm): https://www.xcdsystem.com/4sonline/program/b51ICpL/index.cfm?pgid=128&sid=3181

$50thAnnual Meeting #4S #Reverberations #STS #ScienceAndTechnologyStudies #AcademicConference #Seattle #SeattleWA

Meet AIMOGA: Chery’s AI-Powered Humanoid Robot #4s #ai #aimoga #artificalintelligence #automotive #chery #malaysia #robot #servicecentres

https://www.lowyat.net/2025/349845/meet-aimoga-cherys-ai-powered-humanoid-robot/

Ist er noch ein echter #Porsche? Der #elektrische #Macan #4S im #Fahrbericht | #ADAC

https://youtube.com/watch?v=keGZ_jsoGLs

Fellow critical academia and science travellers! Given the current US developments I have a hard time drafting my abstract for the @[email protected] @[email protected] annual meeting on "Reverberations" in Seattle. STS has always been political – and I can't imagine (self-)censorship in this community of practice! What can we do? And what must we do to help our colleagues now?

#STS #4S

"AI Scientist" Have at it #STS #4S #EASST colleagues... Probably good for teaching material, if nothing else...

If at #4s :) @titipi Weds 17th 11 am Agora 1 main building.

Bugreporting on anticipatory Infra-solutionism: collective practices of struggle and resistance.

In this paper we outline a disobedient action research approach in which we as 'The Institute for Technology in the Public Interest' (TITiPI) work on ways to collectively articulate community concerns on anticipatory infra-solutionism for the digital and green transition.

As part of the Future Work Panel -

Futures have been at the centre of STS work from its inception and have since flourished conceptually and methodologically. In this panel we seek to explore ‘futuring’ through futures thinking, digital futures, future histories, the futures of STS itself, and experiments with futures work.

Location: Agora 1, main building
Sessions: Wednesday 17 July, 9:00-10:30, 11:00-12:30, 16:00-17:30

https://www.easst4s2024.net/programme/#14094

For #newcomers to #EASST #4S conferencing or feeling stressed about your presentation - I can recommend with my whole heart the coaching sessions by #CatelijneCoopmans - cf. https://www.easst4s2024.net/presentingandconnecting/

Sessions take place via Zoom on:

Monday 15 July 17:00 – 18:00 – duration: 1 hour
Tuesday 16 July 7:30 – 8:00 – duration: 30 minutes
Wednesday 17 July 7-30 – 8:00 – duration: 30 minutes

@easst @4Sweb @sts @stsing re #easst4s #easst4s24 #easst4s2024 at #Amsterdam

Tell me you are on your way to
#EASST #4S without telling me you are on your way to EASST-4S

#STS @sts

#easst4s2024 - ✨the infinite programme✨

(anyone make it to the end yet?
any easter eggs? 🐣)

(also what’s the hashtag?
#easst24 #easst4s24 #easst4s #easst #4s #sts …?)

Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo #photography #germany #porsche #auto #car #cars #crossturismo #highlight #porschetaycan #taycan #4s #cross #turismo #german #suv #sportscar #2020 #85 #000 #0to60mph #35seconds #allwheeldrive #range #miles (Flickr 06.01.2022) https://www.flickr.com/photos/7489441@N06/52519528814

#4S #easst #Amsterdam Pls propose your paper/project /performative piece to our fab panel number P115 on global sociotechnical imaginaries of Ai. https://www.easst4s2024.net/open-panels/#14156 Deadline Feb 12. You’ll get to hang out with Noopur Raval Mashinka Hakopian Ranjit Singh Rida Qadri Shazeda Ahmed and Xiaowei Wang. But also, even if none of you propose, the seven of us are going to have a very good time together ✨😎

@estrid @stefan_laser_ @sister0 Yes, join our panel P193 in Amsterdam:

> With the concept “planetary data infrastructures”, the panel explores expanded engagements with networked infrastructures, both concrete and speculative, that help foster more response-able, aesthetic, cooperative, and sustainable planetary relations. We invite conventional and experimental formats.

#sts #ecology #data #easst #4s @sts @ecologies

@easst the
European STS /4S conference is in Amsterdam next year and is now open for abstracts. There are some fab panels this year. We - Noopur Raval, Mashinka Hakopian, Xiaowei Wang Ranjit Singh and Shazeda Ahmed and I - have a panel proposed and accepted : P115. www.easst4s2024.net/open-panels/ #4S #easst #sts

I'm greatly enjoying the Society for Social Studies of Science (#4S, #STS)) conference here in Honolulu . I aim to present a paper on [A #Manifesto for an Integrative Design-oriented Approach to Understanding Humans as Autonomous Agents – CogZest](https://cogzest.com/projects/a-manifesto-for-integrative-design-oriented-cognitive-science-and-ai/) at their 2024 conference in #Amsterdam next July

@i_ngli @stseasst @4Sweb @sts And I will go to #4S for a day or two.

Is the program available online for
#4S in Honolulu https://www.4sonline.org ?

"Making and doing transformations" is the #conference theme of the @stseasst and @4Sweb 2024 meeting in #Amsterdam. #EASST #4S #STS @sts #ScienceAndTechnologyStudies

#EASST4S24 #easst4s2024 #easst24

Find info, timeline etc from now on at

https://www.easst4s2024.net/

The 2024 #easst #4s conference on #ScienceAndTechnologyStudies comes with the theme 'Making and Doing Transformations', as announced by https://vu.nl/en/news/2023/easst-4s-sts-conference-2024-hosted-by-athena-institute.

What hashtag would be appropriate? #EASST4S24 #easst24 #easst4s2024? Looking forward to your thoughts, dear @sts colleagues