March 16, 2007 12:52 PM PDT
The four-wheel-drive robot also got regular workouts towing everything from as many as three researchers to a 200-gallon water tank. Weighing in at about 130 pounds, it has a top speed of about 2 miles per hour and can range just over 300 miles in two weeks. It uses GPS technology for navigation.
Missions for the Cool Robot--or eventually teams of robots--could include deploying seismometers or meteorological instruments, listening in on GPS signals to measure disturbances of the ionosphere, or using ground-penetrating radar to determine crevasse-free routes for human travelers. With their solar arrays, they could also work as mobile power systems--field generators without the diesel fumes.
Photo by Cool Robots project, Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College
