Enabling sustainable, autonomous and affordable research in Antarctica
Let’s make a difference. This is the main driving force at Team Polar. We are a group of enthusiastic students eager to innovate and enable sustainability. For this gather the skills and expertise from diverse educational backgrounds to create a holistic design thinking and solutions to our project.
Ice Cube - The first prototype of Antarctic rover
We at Team Polar are developing the first prototype of a rover, the Ice Cube, for collecting research data in Antarctica. This rover will be powered by clean solar energy – reducing emissions and minimizing the research footprint. The next iteration of the prototype is aimed to navigate autonomously – enabling researchers to collect data without going into the terrain.
Since 2019, we are trying to create a difference in a meaningful matter. During the past 3 years, the team has grown to 29 members, working together to achieve one goal - understanding the environment around us better and sustaining it. The team builds on the multidisciplinary nature of its members – from the Industrial Designer to the Electrical engineers, complimented nicely by the Mechanical engineers, Computer and Data scientists. During the past three years, we have faced many challenges, from choosing the right source of sustainable power to making our first prototype. However, our team is enthusiastic about the project and we're already working on improving the next prototype.
“We are combating the extreme conditions on Antartica – an extraordinary challenge but we are determined in our spirit to achieve zero emission research and understand our planet”
Why Antartica?
Climate change is a serious problem that threatens the future of life as we know it. To fight climate change, we have to understand it. This means obtaining information in places where nature is pristine— as well as places where the consequences of global warming can be observed first-hand - like Antarctica and the North Pole. Currently, the research is inefficient, expensive and not sustainable. The researchers need to commute on huge vehicles that run on kerosene which causes pollution. Also, 80% of Antarctica is not explored yet because the terrain is dangerous for humans to physically collect data.
Brainport Eindhoven supports Team Polar’s journey as a partner, to help them achieve the impossible. Curious to stay informed about the testing of the rover in Norway? Stay informed on our website!
Follow the adventure
Read all the latest updates from the TU/e Polar student team here!
