Odetics Inc. of Anaheim said Monday that...

Odetics Inc. of Anaheim said Monday that it has received two federal contracts of undisclosed value to develop the company’s robot technology for use in nuclear plants and space.

The first agreement is with E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., which operates the Savannah River Laboratory, in Aiken, S.C., for the Department of Energy. Under the 12-month contract, Odetics will supply a walking robot that will be tested for a variety of uses, including the handling of radioactive waste, in federal nuclear facilities such as Savannah.

Under a second agreement, a 6-month contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Odetics will develop a prototype for a hand-held optical radar device that essentially will be a tape measure and speedometer for space. NASA hopes astronauts will be able to use such a device to gauge distances and speeds.