Many important scientific studies, particularly those involving climate change, require weather measurements from the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Due to the harsh and dangerous conditions of such environments, it would be advantageous to deploy a group of autonomous, mobile weather sensors, rather than accepting the expense and risk of human presence. To validate our methodologies for navigation in such environments, a set of prototype arctic rovers have been designed, constructed, and fielded on a glacier in Alaska.
The Human-Automation Systems (HumAnS) Lab has been developing reconfigurable robotic sensor networks, and robotic vehicles for use in the exploration of remote planetary surfaces, such as Mars, and remote sites on Earth, such as Antartica.
This particular set of projects has gone through various versions:
Version 3 (SnoMotes I) and Version 4 (SnoMotes II)
Field Trials in Alaska (with Version 3 and 4)
SnoMotes
Lead Engineers: Stephen Williams, Ayanna Howard
| SnoMotes | Arctic Navigation | Robot Surveying |