--- title: Arctic Iceberg Drones Turn Sheer Ice Into Landing Pads description: A team of Canadian roboticists from Université de Sherbrooke has developed Ice Dart, a spider-like drone that can land on and cling to steep icebergs and... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/arctic-iceberg-drones-turn-sheer-ice-into-landing-pads-rlo13sei6 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Arctic Iceberg Drones Turn Sheer Ice Into Landing Pads | daily.dev og:description: A team of Canadian roboticists from Université de Sherbrooke has developed Ice Dart, a spider-like drone that can land on and cling to steep icebergs and... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/arctic-iceberg-drones-turn-sheer-ice-into-landing-pads-rlo13sei6 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/RLO13seI6.png og:image:alt: Arctic Iceberg Drones Turn Sheer Ice Into Landing Pads og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Arctic Iceberg Drones Turn Sheer Ice Into Landing Pads **[IEEE Spectrum](https://daily.dev/sources/ieeespectrum)** · 5 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A team of Canadian roboticists from Université de Sherbrooke has developed Ice Dart, a spider-like drone that can land on and cling to steep icebergs and glaciers using retractable microspines inspired by cat claws. The 2.65 kg carbon-fiber drone successfully perched on slopes up to 58 degrees at landing speeds of three meters per second, with a 100 percent success rate even in 30 km/h winds, during tests on Iceland's Fjallsjökull glacier. Published in IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics, the research aims to let drones perform long-term, silent, low-power monitoring of icebergs for calving and movement studies, complementing satellite and ship-based tracking. The drone is slated for deployment during a Canadian Arctic mission this August to validate ship-based iceberg-detection systems. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does the Ice Dart drone grip onto icy glacier surfaces? It uses landing gear with friction shock absorbers made of 38 disks that dissipate impact energy, combined with two retractable spines per foot—a larger spine for downhill grip and a smaller, thinner spine for uphill grip. The spines only penetrate the ice as the suspension compresses during landing, protecting them from high-impact forces while generating traction on slopes up to 58 degrees. _Robotics engineers tracking novel perching and locomotion designs can follow developments like this on daily.dev._ ### What slope angle and wind conditions can the Ice Dart drone successfully land in? The Ice Dart achieved a 100 percent success rate landing on slopes up to 58 degrees at speeds up to three meters per second, even in wind speeds of 30 km/h. Tests were conducted on the Fjallsjökull glacier in southeast Iceland, where the drone gripped icebergs and glacier surfaces at temperatures between 0 and 10 °C. _Anyone evaluating field robotics for harsh environments can keep up with real-world test results via daily.dev._ ### Why would a drone land on an iceberg instead of just flying over it to monitor it? Landing drastically cuts energy consumption, letting a small aircraft observe an iceberg for days or months instead of just during a brief flyover. A landed drone also becomes silent and can reduce or eliminate its thermal and RF signature by shutting down major systems, providing longer-term, more detailed monitoring than helicopter deployment, dropped instruments, or satellite tracking alone. _Engineers weighing perch-and-stare designs against traditional aerial surveillance can track this space through daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Submersible Drone Analyzes Ice](https://daily.dev/posts/submersible-drone-analyzes-ice-ztplvbnoi) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Researchers tune into Arctic under-ice sounds and test through-ice communication](https://daily.dev/posts/researchers-tune-into-arctic-under-ice-sounds-and-test-through-ice-communication-bekz3kcj8) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [MIT engineers design an aerial microrobot that can fly as fast as a bumblebee](https://daily.dev/posts/mit-engineers-design-an-aerial-microrobot-that-can-fly-as-fast-as-a-bumblebee-nflz3dyrc) · Robohub · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Robot Videos: Heavy Lift Cargo Drones, Grippers, More](https://daily.dev/posts/robot-videos-heavy-lift-cargo-drones-grippers-more-79lwnhr2b) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Flying with whales: Drones are remaking marine mammal research](https://daily.dev/posts/flying-with-whales-drones-are-remaking-marine-mammal-research-dtgeuojkg) · Ars Technica · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#robotics](https://daily.dev/tags/robotics) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/arctic-iceberg-drones-turn-sheer-ice-into-landing-pads-rlo13sei6) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Arctic Iceberg Drones Turn Sheer Ice Into Landing Pads","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/arctic-iceberg-drones-turn-sheer-ice-into-landing-pads-rlo13sei6","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/arctic-iceberg-drones-turn-sheer-ice-into-landing-pads-rlo13sei6"},"datePublished":"2026-08-18T13:01:06.488Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T06:30:22.300Z","description":"A team of Canadian roboticists from Université de Sherbrooke has developed Ice Dart, a spider-like drone that can land on and cling to steep icebergs and...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/74f2cc32a865adcb4cd1c8167b5bd7f3?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/74f2cc32a865adcb4cd1c8167b5bd7f3?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"IEEE Spectrum","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"IEEE Spectrum","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/b123f5e8420e492ab36f6adb30c1793a","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/ieeespectrum"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/arctic-iceberg-drones-turn-sheer-ice-into-landing-pads-rlo13sei6","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"robotics","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"IEEE Spectrum","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/ieeespectrum"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Arctic Iceberg Drones Turn Sheer Ice Into Landing Pads"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/arctic-iceberg-drones-turn-sheer-ice-into-landing-pads-rlo13sei6#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How does the Ice Dart drone grip onto icy glacier surfaces?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It uses landing gear with friction shock absorbers made of 38 disks that dissipate impact energy, combined with two retractable spines per foot—a larger spine for downhill grip and a smaller, thinner spine for uphill grip. 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