Snow removal ranks right up there with laundry as one of the least-enjoyed chores. [Herb Spencer] sought to automate the process while terrifying his neighbors as the same time by building a robotic snow blower, the RoBo Blower. The heavy lifting is still handled by a gas motor which propels the snow auger. Two batteries power the electrical system that takes commands from a remote control, moving the show chute and managing the navigation. He’s done what he can in the way of safety, adding a grate at the front, flashing light atop, an operator-controlled horn, and kill circuitry (to shut it down, not to kill the unsuspecting). All of this is wrapped up in a nice package, especially when compared to the snow blower push platform from last month.
Maybe next year he’ll work on making it autonomous? Take a look at the RoBo Blower clearing a driveway after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3i_5yue-Qw]
[Thanks Juan via Hacked Gadgets]
anything to stay out of the cold
If that caution bar was a bumper kill switch, it be better.
now to graft it to the brains of a roomba ;)
Lol
DJ Roomba
can anyone tell me what tv show thats from?
this would be nice for small snows, but even 16 inches of snow would be to much. Sometimes they just need some manual thrust. Cool idea though
DJ Roomba was on Parks & Recreations
thinking.. have you ever had a cat in your engine when you cranked up your car? i think this would be a half decent cat mulcher.
“RoBo Blower”
Another fantasy headline shot to hell by reality.
Megan: Where’d you get 16 inches from? His page says it’s 30″ high. Besides, you could always go over the same area more then once (which is what most people end up doing anyway).
This is a cool project but if it’s not autonomous then it didn’t happen.
@ jeditalian, I have run over a couple of gophers with the tiller, its actually a pretty clean way to go.
Being from a temperate area of Northern California I don’t understand this hack at all, but it is cool.
@ roomba….
The year without a santa claus, right?
What kind of hack would get the Heatmizer song?
Is this how to lose a limb hack week? Cool though.
Seems like a great idea, though, I wonder what he is using to keep the bottom edge from catching and snagging on everything, that happens enough on my own driveway/garage with a human.
Also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F29XU0aYA_E&feature=player_embedded# looks more effective as a remote control blower.
If you need to be outside to use it then you might as well push it to get it done faster. However, i watched the video twice just for the song.
looks slow but ive got to say, very clean good looking safeish hack :)
Nice job. I love this rig.
Personally, I like this one too : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HiAKRvR4wk
I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this post about fantasy. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to start my own tutorial blog now.