Polar Research Robot Swarm PolarScout Completes Unmanned Antarctic Winter-Over Test
PolarScout robot swarm includes ground patrol, ice drilling, and weather observation robots, completing 6 months of unmanned winter-over operation at an Antarctic research station.
China's Polar Research Center announced on February 26 that the PolarScout robot swarm completed a 6-month unmanned winter-over test at Antarctica's Zhongshan Station. The swarm includes 3 ground patrol robots, 2 ice drilling robots, and 1 weather observation drone.
Under extreme cold of -55°C and 6 months of polar night, the PolarScout robots autonomously completed research station equipment inspections, 30-meter-deep ice core drilling, and daily meteorological data collection. The system transmitted data back to domestic command centers daily via satellite link.
During the test, one ice drilling robot went offline due to a hydraulic system failure; the other five robots operated continuously. The Polar Research Center plans to deploy a second-generation PolarScout system next Antarctic summer.
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