Cambrian students design toboggan for Arctic military use

Cambrian College students designed a heavy-duty, all-terrain toboggan for RufDiamond to support Arctic military operations.

A Sudbury-based company, RufDiamond, is supporting the military in the Arctic with a piece of equipment designed by students at Cambrian College.

The specially designed toboggan can manoeuvre in complex terrain and load and unload pallets without supporting equipment.

RufDiamond president Daryl Adams approached the innovation centre the college to develop a concept for a toboggan to be pulled behind a Fat Truck to support military operations in the Arctic.

“They had an end-to-end service that they could provide to me, including engineering support fabrication, electrical things like that,” Adams said.

“We were able to close that gap and create a heavy-duty, lightweight all-terrain toboggan sled that is mission-specific for the military.”

Cambrian College mechanical engineering technology and welding and fabrication students made the concept come to life.

“They actually get to test their skills on real-world innovations,” said Steve Gravel, of Cambrian College R&D.

“Everything from design to, you know, making 3D models and then eventually building and testing them. So, they get that full, real-world experience.”

The toboggan is self-loading and unloading, including pallets, and can manoeuvre in complex and challenging terrain on specially designed skis.

“The military requirement is, can this be airdropped from an aircraft under canopy,” Adams said.

“Given that the team at Cambrian College was able to design and develop a ski that could handle those very, very difficult terrains, changing from snow to ice.”

“This project actually represents something really important going on in Canada right now and that is the invention of dual-use technology,” Gravel added.

“So technology that can be used in multiple sectors, including defence.”

The toboggan is dual-purpose and can also be used to support hydro utilities, mining exploitation and police and emergency response.