Autonomous Snow Plow
Problem statement
Imagine coming back from a nice snowy day playing ice hockey on the frozen lake just up the hill. But oh no! Just as you’re walking up your driveway, you slip on some black ice and throw out your back. You need to get to the hospital, but every ambulance in a 25 mile radius is unavailable, and the only other occupant in your house, your 97 year old grandmother, can drive but can’t move the piled snow in your driveway. Additionally, your driveway is on a heavy slant and must be plowed, or else you risk your car slipping down the driveway when exiting the garage. Well it sure would be helpful to have a snow plow that can autonomously remove snow from your driveway so that your 97-year-old grandma can drive you to the hospital! Each year, the Institute of Navigation holds its Autonomous Snow Plowing Competition (ASC), where student teams are encouraged to design and build a snow plow and its sensing system that can remove snow autonomously from a snowfield [3]. Existing autonomous snow plowing technology exists, but it is either still in development or impractical. Our client, AriensCo., is a premier manufacturer of snow removal equipment, and are looking to add autonomous snow removal equipment into their industry lineup in the future. An effective autonomous control system would be desirable for AriensCo., and If our team can design a useful autonomous snow plow implementation, it may be utilized and built upon by AriensCo. The Snow Plow Market Industry is expected to grow from 3.42(USD Billion) in 2023 to 4.62 (USD Billion) by 2032 [4], which goes to show how significant the snowplow market is in addition to its expected growth. In the future, autonomous snow plowing may help clients like you when you throw your back out and need to have snow removed from your driveway so your 97-year-old grandmother can drive you to the hospital!
The objective of the Institute of Navigation’s Autonomous Snow Plowing Competition (ASC) is for teams to design and build an unmanned snow plow vehicle that will autonomously remove snow from pre-defined paths [3]. The competition invites and challenges groups in the area of high-performance autonomous vehicle guidance, navigation, and control. Ariens Corporation is a premier manufacturer of landscaping, snow blowing, and snow plowing equipment. Ariens Corporation is interested in developing autonomous snow removal equipment in the future. There are alternatives on the market, such as the Yarbo Snow Robot, but they are comparatively smaller, only being able to handle small amounts of snow (up to 5 inches) [1], and are electric, which is relatively worse to use in cold weather. The AriensCo Mammoth can push at least 3 feet of snow for a considerable distance and is gas-powered, which is much more reliable in cold and snowy weather [2]. Additionally, competitors have only around 1.5 hours of working life before recharge is needed [1], while the Mammoth can run up to 3 hours on a single tank of gas. Ariens has supplied an Ariens Mammoth series snow removal model that we will be converting to autonomous operation that will adhere to all ASC rules. The solution developed by our team may be built upon and implemented in Ariens Corporation autonomous snow removal equipment in the future.
Sources
[1] “Snowbot – Autonomous Snow Blower Robot for Residential Use,” TheSnowbot. Accessed: Feb. 06, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.thesnowbot.com/
[2] C. Ruhatiya, R. Gandra, P. Kondaiah, A. Garg, and H. Tibrewala, “Extreme cold-weather battery thermal management for optimal electric vehicle performance,” Energy Storage, vol. 6, no. 1, p. e520, 2024, doi: 10.1002/est2.520.
[3]”Autonomous Snow Plow.” Accessed: Feb. 06, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://mail.autosnowplow.com/welcome.html
[4] M. R. F. https://www.marketresearchfuture.com, “Snow Plow Market Size, Growth Analysis, Trends Report 2032.” Accessed: Feb. 11, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/snow-plow-market-23165
Team members
Andres Banuelos – communicator
Allen Gao – admin
Tony Tian – facilitator
Jake Evans – accountant
Client
Glenn Bower
UW – Mechanical Engineering