Cool Robots were among the interesting technologies reported on at this year's Arctic Science Summit Week in Hanover. Cool Robots are basically large cube-shaped robots covered with solar panels. They were developed by researchers at the Dartmouth College's Thayer School of Engineering. The Cool Robots are designed to withstand the harsh conditions of the Antarctic and assist researchers by navigating over 1000km autonomously to deploy and maintain instruments and sensor packages. Each robot is equipped with 4 20x8 ATV tires and has a very lightweight chassis, allowing it to easily move across snow and ice. For brains the robot has two Jackrabbit RCM3100 8-bit microcontrollers. The robot also has GPS for navigation as well as radio and satellite modems for keeping in touch with home base. Loads of photos of the Cool Robot can be found in the team's website. For a detailed description of the Cool Robot's design and construction see Alex Streeter's 2005 Master of Science thesis. (PDF format)