The Challenging Robotics in Year-round, Outdoor, and Time-critical missions In extreme Conditions (CRYOTIC) project aims to develop resilient autonomous navigation for winter and extreme environments through three key thrusts: perception, navigation, and motion. These thrusts will advance resilient autonomous navigation for winter and extreme environments. The research will be grounded in three main applications: A1 - long-distance off-road resupply missions prioritizing goal achievement and adaptability; A2 - inspection of remote transmission lines where mobility and endurance are critical; and A3 - monitoring electrical substations requiring precise navigation in dense, fragile environments. Together, these applications form a diverse framework for testing autonomy in time, distance, and infrastructure-critical contexts. The resulting innovations will strengthen robotic perception, navigation, and motion control across varied terrains, ensuring robust and energy-efficient performance in subarctic conditions.

Objectives

1. Perception in subarctic environments: Snow and blizzards challenge robot autonomy. Understanding and mitigating their effects on perception algorithms is key for reliable operation in Canadian conditions.
2. Navigation under unforeseen conditions: In unstructured terrains like boreal forests, robots face obstacles such as deep snow or fallen trees. We aim to predict and recover from these events rather than avoid them.
3. Field Testing and Integration: Cold climates reduce energy efficiency and control stability. Incorporating energy management into planning and control algorithms enables longer, autonomous operation in remote areas.

Reports

March 29, 2026

Challenges of the Arctic for Robotic Systems: Lessons from Nanook Mission 2026​

The Arctic is one of the most challenging environments for autonomous robotic systems. Extreme cold, featureless landscapes, snowstorms, and high solar activ...

November 24, 2024

Cryotic Launch ↗

(French only) This page redirects to the original article on ULaval News.

People

François Pomerleau

Philippe Giguère

Simon-Pierre Deschênes

Olivier Gamache

Jean-Michel Fortin

William Guimont-Martin

William Dubois

Edith Brotherton

Matěj Boxan

Effie Daum

Nicolas Samson

Veronica Vannini

William Fecteau

Benoît Renald

Nicolas Lauzon

Mathis Turgeon-Roy

Publications

Journal Articles

1. Samson, N., Larrivée-Hardy, W., Dubois, W., Roy-Brouard, É., Brotherton, E., Baril, D., Lépine, J., & Pomerleau, F. (2025). DRIVE Through the Unpredictability: From a Protocol Investigating Slip to a Metric Estimating Command Uncertainty. IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics, 2, 380–399. https://doi.org/10.1109/TFR.2025.3580397
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2. Gamache, O., Fortin, J.-M., Boxan, M., Pomerleau, F., & Giguère, P. (2025). Reproducible Evaluation of Camera Auto-Exposure Methods in the Field: Platform, Benchmark, and Lessons Learned. IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics, 2, 270–287. https://doi.org/10.1109/TFR.2025.3566694
    Publisher    Bibtex source

Conference Articles

1. Dubois, W., Samson, N., Daum, E., Laconte, J., & Pomerleau, F. (2025). Under Pressure: Altimeter-Aided ICP for 3D Maps Consistency. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA55743.2025.11128024
    Publisher    Bibtex source
2. Fortin, J.-M., Gamache, O., Fecteau, W., Daum, E., Larrivée-Hardy, W., Pomerleau, F., & Giguère, P. (2025). UAV-Assisted Self-Supervised Terrain Awareness for Off-Road Navigation. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA55743.2025.11128050
    Publisher    Bibtex source
3. LaRocque, D., Guimont-Martin, W., Duclos, D.-A., Giguère, P., & Pomerleau, F. (2024). Proprioception Is All You Need: Terrain Classification for Boreal Forests. 2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 11686–11693. https://doi.org/10.1109/iros58592.2024.10801407
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4. Gamache, O., Fortin, J.-M., Boxan, M., Vaidis, M., Pomerleau, F., & Giguère, P. (2024). Exposing the Unseen: Exposure Time Emulation for Offline Benchmarking of Vision Algorithms. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 11110–11117. https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS58592.2024.10803057
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5. Deschênes, S.-P., Baril, D., Boxan, M., Laconte, J., Giguère, P., & Pomerleau, F. (2024). Saturation-Aware Angular Velocity Estimation: Extending the Robustness of SLAM to Aggressive Motions. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2310.07844
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Miscellaneous

1. Samson, N., Larrivée-Hardy, W., Dubois, W., Roy-Brouard, É., Brotherton, E., Baril, D., Lépine, J., & Pomerleau, F. (2026). Assessing the Unpredictability of Uncrewed Ground Vehicle Command on Multiple Terrains. Colloque REPARTI, Université Laval.
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2. Turgeon-Roy, M., Boxan, M., & Pomerleau, F. (2026). Towards high mobility in snow: Analyzing the effect of center of mass on deep snow locomotion. Colloque REPARTI, Université Laval.
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3. Brotherton, E., Gamache, O., & Pomerleau, F. (2026). Challenges of the Arctic for Robotic Systems: Overview of the Nanook Mission 2026. Colloque REPARTI, Université Laval.
    Bibtex source