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Polar Robots to Explore the Arctic

Posted by timothy on from the robot-siberia dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "It's now almost certain that the world's ice shelves are melting. And while satellites provide lots of data about their evolution, ground-based weather stations could be even more useful. But if scientists can no longer stay on fragile and volatile ice sheets, what can they do? They can use specially designed robots called SnoMotes developed by U.S. researchers. 'The SnoMotes work as a team, autonomously collaborating among themselves to cover all the necessary ground to gather assigned scientific measurements.' More importantly, a SnoMote is an 'expendable rover that wouldn't break a research team's bank if it were lost during an experiment,' according to the lead researcher." Reader coondoggie adds a link to another story on these robots at Network World.

7 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Polar Robots by quarrel · · Score: 3, Funny

    'cause like, polar robots have something better to explore than like the *poles* ?

    --Q

  2. Add to Endangered List? by Black-Man · · Score: 2, Funny

    With the ice caps melting, do the 'bots get endangered species protection?

    1. Re:Add to Endangered List? by dreamchaser · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'd rather put Roland on that list, or at least his blog reprints of news.

  3. Both poles? by oodaloop · · Score: 4, Funny

    I, for one, welcome our bi-polar robot overlords.

    --
    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    1. Re:Both poles? by shagymoe · · Score: 2, Funny

      If they're anything like my bi-polar ex-wife, you're going to regret that.

  4. In related news... by SeekerDarksteel · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...Cartesian robots are angry about being passed over for these jobs without even being considered.

    --
    The laws of probability forbid it!
  5. So why this this a problem? by imyy4u3 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe I'm missing something, but I think Global Warming is a good thing. Melt all the damn ice shelves for all I care, more fresh water for us all, and better weather to boot. So what if the ocean levels rise a good 5 ft? I think the temperature benefits and the increased fresh water is a small price to pay for that. Plus the land we lose due to islands submerging will be made up in the form of land farther north or south that will now be viable.

    Also, if you look at the history of the Earth over the past few hundred thousand years, you will see the global temps are always rising and falling. I think our greenhouse gases may contribute to it a little bit, but come on, I'm sure there's some global temperature cycle most people are not taking into account.

    Am I the only one who thinks this is a good thing? Seriously, maybe people need to start thinking and questioning for themselves instead of always saying "wow, I heard Global Warming is bad, let's stop it!"