Don’t let the knee-high size of [Hrastovc]’s creation fool you. TrackRobot weighs in at a monstrous 60 kg (130 lbs) of steel, motors, and battery. It sports two 48V motors in a body and frame made from pieces of finger-jointed sheet steel, and can reach speeds of up to four meters per second with a runtime of up to an hour. The project’s link has more pictures as well as DXF files of the pieces used for the body.
Currently TrackRobot is remote-controlled, but one goal is to turn it into a semi-autonomous snow plow. You can see TrackRobot going through its first steps as well as testing out a plow prototype in the videos embedded below.
Snow projects don’t show up very often, but there have been some great ones like the fully 3D printed snow thrower, the one-wheeled single-ski Snow Bike, and the wonderful FPV Snow Sled made from spare parts.
Why pay for fitness clubs when you can just grab a shovel and do some honest work removing the snow?
Because a heart attack sucks, which is a very real risk shoveling snow.
Avoiding all straining work is your best bet if you want a long life. Sedentary lifestyles are how we triumph over nature.
It’s a risk if you overdo it and you’re not paying attention to your heart rate. My wife and I have found a solution: we both go out to shovel the snow, but we only bring one shovel. Every few minutes we trade back and forth between “grunt” and “supervisor” duties, the snow gets shoveled quickly and nobody has to call 911.
Only if your cardio game is weak.
Because a fitness club doesn’t usually leave the thermometer set at 20 below with gusts of freezing rain and snow.
my favorite snowbot so far: https://youtu.be/72pOG0aD_KM?t=1m23s
Yay! Something not involving 3D printing!
re: the snowbot video that Nick linked
I’m envisioning GPS control for the discharge chute.
Pick a general reference to keep it aimed at.
This makes me want one of the RC mowers built from an old electric wheelchair projects.
For such a small bot maybe one of those big nylon rotary brushes like they make for skid steers would work better, his plow design looks a little lacking.
Gear it down a little more and you’ve got a 600EU, rechargeable, remote-controlled dozer/tractor for your small-holding. Nice!
We need a few more details on assembly (shafts, battery, controller electronics) though, Hrastovc.
Now then, where can I get laser-cut steel with free international shipping? :-)
get to know the engineering places in your area. guaranteed someone will know someone with laser/plasma cutter
I added some specs for a shaft. Everything about control electronics is already on github (https://github.com/Hrastovc/Arduino-TankDrive/blob/master/example/TankDrive/TankDrive.ino).
Thanks. Luka!
What I need is a robotic snowplow that takes the snow, makes snowballs out of them and piles them in a strategic place for my robotic snowball launcher’s ammo…