Two polar robots developed by the Shenyang branch of Chinese Academy of Sciences have been successfully used in an experiment in Antarctica.

The Shenyang Evening News reported on Friday that the Shenyang Institute of Automation led the development of the two robots that have performed experiments during China's ongoing 24th Antarctic expedition.

The robots, which can move across the polar ice surface and fly at low levels, have conducted the experiments at the edge of the Antarctic ice cap about six kilometers from China's Zhongshan Station. They probed the edge of the ice cap's to determine the impact of global warming there.

So far, the 200-kilogram snow/ice surface moving robot has successfully completed maneuvers to measure glaciers. It could adapt to the polar environment much well.

The 20-kilogram flying robot flew 25 kilometers in 15 minutes at a height of 150 meters to take sea temperatures and aerial photos.

(CRI January 28, 2008)