James Lever, U.S. Army's Cold Regions Research and Engineering
Laboratory The Yeti rover in Greeland in April 2012, with its
ground-penetrating radar sled. By Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet
Meet Yeti, a faithful rover of the robotic kind that sniffs out
dangerous crevasses for convoys crossing the glaciers of
Antarctica and Greenland, explores ice caves on an active
volcano and finds old buildings buried under the polar ice. This
southern summer, Yeti trundled ahead of the bright orange
tractors that deliver supplies to research outposts throughout
Antarctica. Towing a ground-penetrating radar, the rover alerts
drivers to hidden breaks in the ice. Snow often bridges the
fissures, obscuring hazards, but the little robot is light
enough (150 pounds, or 68 kilograms) to ford the breaks if not
stopped in time. "It's not likely to fall through, and there's
no danger to the robot except losing the robot," said Laura Ray,
an engineer at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., who led the
robot's development. [Watch Yeti