 The general concept uses a hot point for melt penetration, instrumentation for control and measurement functions, supply conductor coils to link the probe with the surface for transmission of power and measurement signals.The cryobot was invented by German physicist Karl Philberth, who first demonstrated it in the 1960s as part of the International Glaciological Greenland Expedition (EGIG), achieving drilling depths in excess of .In 1973 British scientists in Antarctica performed airborne ice-penetrating radar survey and detected a possible lake.