Ship relies on drone to navigate through ice blocks in Arctic waters

This post originally appeared on http://fox6now.com/2016/11/05/ship-relies-on-drone-to-navigate-through-ice-blocks-in-arctic-waters/.

WASHINGTON — Even in one of the world’s most desolate areas, gridlock is still a problem.

A ship on a mission in the Arctic Circle found itself surrounded by blocks of ice this summer. So the ship’s crew launched an autonomous drone for a bird’s eye view of its situation. Rather than attempting to steer through a maze of ice chunks without knowing what lay ahead, the ship’s captain had live footage from the drone to guide it through the most treacherous passages.