In many ways, the human race has mastered transportation. We can fly across oceans, take lighting-fast trains between cities, and navigate mountains with gondolas. However, there are places in the world that are so isolated that a plane is not practical, and where no individual’s car could venture without getting stuck. Those are snowy, remote environments, such as Canada, Russia, Alaska, and Antarctica. People living or temporarily living in these places wait weeks or even months for supplies and mail, and we wanted to change that.

          Our transportation device is an amphibious vehicle that is intended to help deliver essentials like food and clothes to remote places in very cold environments. This vehicle is manned by a two-person crew and is designed to cross icy and snowy terrain, as well as bodies of water. In order to make these transitions, our vehicle has two propellers - a horizontal one on the bottom, which helps the vehicle float in water and keep from sinking in snow; and a larger one on the back, which propels the vehicle forwards. In our prototype, we 3-D printed both propellers and used Arduino motors to power them. There are no emissions, as wind energy is collected by the back propeller when it is not in use and stored in a battery for later. Our vehicle has two long, tube-like flotation devices on the bottom, similar to those on a hovercraft, which also help it glide across ice and snow. We used foam for these in our prototype and precisely shaped them using a foam cutter. We also added brakes for snow and ice travel, which were 3-D printed and brought into motion by a piston mechanism. Finally, we laser cut the body of the vehicle using a technique that allows the wood to curve to our preferred shape.