3D-Printed, Remote-Controlled Soil Sample Collector for UAS

Remote-controlled UAS-based soil sampling offers great potential for scientific research and practical applications in various fields, including agriculture, environmental monitoring, hazardous waste, radiation measurements, chemical plants, snow sampling and glaciology. The added value of automated sampling using a UAS (unmanned aircraft system) compared to manual sampling lies primarily in improved accessibility to hazardous or remote locations, increased operational safety, and the potential to improve efficiency in applications requiring repeated or difficult-to-access sampling. This article introduces two different 3D-printed constructions (grab arm and screw pipe) for UAS-based, remote-controlled sample collection of different soil types. The grab arm construction is based on an adapted version of an open-source CAD from GrabCAD. The screw pipe construction is a new design. During an expedition to Greenland in August 2025, the two constructions were manually evaluated during several days of field work near the Danish and Austrian research stations at the Sermilik Fjord to assess their mechanical sampling performance on challenging Arctic surface materials, including dry and wet sand, gravel, glacial sediment, snow, and glacier surfaces. Because flight testing was not possible during the expedition due to unavailable UAS batteries, these experiments were limited to manual ground evaluation of the constructions. Independent flight tests were subsequently conducted in Austria using a DJI Matrice 300 to evaluate the integration of both the grab arm and the screw pipe with the UAS platform and their operational handling during flight. In Greenland the performance of manual sampling was documented precisely. Further the coordinates of each sampling point were recorded by using GPS, sample images were taken on site, and the collected material was weighed. The results show that UAS in combination with 3D printed constructions is a flexible and location-independent solution for obtaining soil samples of varying composition. In addition to the design, materials, and electronics of the systems, the article also describes the connection to the UAS and the field work results.