Monday, March 11, 2013

Yeti Surveys Warren Cave

After some debugging and testing, we performed some autonomous GPR surveys at Warren Cave.  Warren is one of several fumoralic ice caves that Mt. Erebus scientists enter to measure temperature, gas concentrations, and morphology.  Our LiDAR team, Jed and Drea, went into Warren Cave a few weeks ago to perform green LiDAR scans of Warren's interior.  I was lucky enough to accompany them and help out when I could.

Entrance to Warren Cave. 
In order to enter the cave, we had to anchor ourselves to stakes driven into the rock in case the cave ceiling collapsed under our weight.

Inside Warren Cave looking out.
Yeti did pretty well on the snow over Warren, except for some icy patches here and there. We set up a mountain tent as a staging area for Yeti's electronics, including a large DC car battery, an inverter, an extra GPR, extra laptop batteries, and extra Ultralife batteries.













Recent Yeti Press

Yeti has been getting some great press recently; read on!

Curiosity’s Cousins: Autonomous Polar Robots Explore Earth’s Extremes
Wired
Earth’s poles are the wheeling grounds for two polar rovers: solar-powered Cool Robot and its younger cousin Yeti.  The pair, designed by a team led by engineer Laura Ray at Dartmouth College, are among the first autonomous polar robots to go to work. Now, knee-high Yeti is on an expedition to Antarctica, peering beneath the ice and snow on Mt. Erebus, in search of steam-carved caves hiding in the volcano’s ice cap

How a Robot is Changing the Game of Antarctic Science
Wired

 The trek across the Antarctic ice sheet is a long, hazardous, and costly journey for scientific researchers working in the world’s most remote location.  Astronomers, geologists, and biologists regularly spend much of their field season and over 70% of their hard-earned grant money on logistical support – an intricate choreography of supply planes, snowmobiles, and tractors meant to move gear to where it needs to be

'Yeti' robot warns of Antarctic crevasses
Bend Bulletin

You’re traveling more than 1,000 miles across the barren snowscape of Antarctica. Along the way, many crevasses lie hidden between you and your quest to resupply the hungry scientists at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The good news is you can detect these deathtraps with a radar arm. The bad news is it only gives you approximately four seconds of warning before you and your tracked vehicle,...

Roving around Erebus
Twenty years after an arachnid-shaped robot stalled out on its descent into the noxious crater of an Antarctic volcano, an altogether different rover could be found on the slightly safer slopes of Mount Erebus.

'Yeti' Robot Finds Cracks in Antarctic Ice
CRASAR
A new robot has found its way to Antarctica. This robot is called 'Yeti', this little robot runs ahead of convoys and other larger vehicles looking for cracks that the ...


'Yeti' Robot Finds Cracks in Antarctic Ice
Discovery News

 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.

Robot Yeti Helps Researchers in Polar Areas
French Tribune
Researchers being funded by the National Science Foundation have recently started to take help of a self-guided robot named Yeti for exploring the Arctic and Antarctic area. This robot helps in identifying the crevasses that are hidden in the thick ...
 

In Greenland and Antarctic Tests, Yeti Helps Conquer Some Abominable Polar Hazards
National Science Foundation

A century after Western explorers first crossed the dangerous landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic, researchers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) have successfully deployed a self-guided robot that uses ground-penetrating radar to map deadly crevasses hidden in ice-covered terrains.
 
Yeti Robot Finds Deadly Antarctic Crevasses So We Don't Have To
Slate Magazine
Meet the Yeti. This four-wheel-drive rover drags a ground-penetrating radar arm capable of logging information that tells scientists what lies—or more importantly, doesn't lie—below. At just 180 pounds, the bot crosses snow-covered crevasses like it ...


In Greenland and Antarctic Tests, Yeti Helps Conquer Some Abominable Polar Hazards
Alaska Native News
Phys.org
A century after Western explorers first crossed the dangerous landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic, researchers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) have successfully deployed a self-guided robot that uses ground-penetrating radar to map deadly crevasses hidden in ice-covered terrains... 

Occupational Health and Safety Online
Researchers funded by the National Science Foundation have developed a self-guided robot that uses ground-penetrating radar to map crevasses hidden in ice-covered terrains. They believe the robot, named Yeti, will make Arctic and Antarctic explorations and missions to resupply remote scientific stations safer, NSF reported March ...

RedOrbit
A century after Western explorers first crossed the dangerous landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic, researchers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) have successfully deployed a self-guided robot that uses ground-penetrating radar to map deadly crevasses hidden in ice-covered terrains