For those living in the Northern Hemisphere, we are currently encased in the harsh grip of Winter and thus, bound to the grueling duty of snow-shoveling. The natural inclination is to say, “how can I build an awesome robot to do this instead?” Well, Ryan ‘Moo Spyker’ of the famously frozen St. Paul, MN, has been building the Ultimate answer to this question.
Building off of a Kyosho Blizzard, Ryan added an impeller to break up the snow using an XYZ Da Vinci 3D printer for printing all of his custom components. Using ABS Filament to construct the parts, it’s clear that the parts are surprisingly durable as the mechanism breaks up snow and ice in sub-zero temperatures with no trouble at all.
It’s a rather hypnotic thing to see robots demolish snowbanks like this remotely (note: the blades are moving, but don’t appear so because the video frame rate in the videos below are nearly synced with the rotational speed). Ryan is offering to sell all of the parts, excluding the electronics for $276 + shipping (more details here).
This neat project revealed a whole niche community of RC Snowblower makers who create mini-snowblowers or mini-plowers of all types and sizes with names such as the Plowbot.
Additionally, there are others outfitting VW Buses with Snowtracks or Mini-Unimogs, even creating Salt Spreaders.
For those looking for the crème de la crème, there’s even a more advanced Kyosho Blizzard that, for $350, is controlled by an iPad and includes camera functionality.
Finally, you have no need to leave the couch and clear the drive. Everyone talks about Drones and Quadcopters, but I for one welcome our Plowbot Overlords. May they forever keep my sidewalk clear and salted.
