SparkFun Electronics Commentsurn:uuid:214d0e4e-f1b1-d287-ce26-ac5b4c9f82492024-03-29T03:07:09-06:00SparkFun ElectronicsCustomer #1172113 on Snow Plowing with RoboticsCustomer #1172113urn:uuid:702b246f-85bc-1fd5-2cd6-ea7be0b62c9e2017-10-11T12:51:48-06:00<p>The nice hard workers who mow lawns for a living in very hot conditions might appreciate a robo-mower version, so they could avoid, again, the harsh environment.</p>
Customer #842326 on Snow Plowing with RoboticsCustomer #842326urn:uuid:020e9409-fe36-0f08-8d18-f8bbe6a4068b2016-09-09T14:47:34-06:00<p>As for power consumption, the I-Shovel would utilize a rechargeable battery with a solar power option, which would make it eco-friendly and inexpensive to operate. Unfortunately for our friends in cold weather climates, the I-Shovel is currently in a prototype phase—but the designers are actively searching for partnerships to develop the design into a production appliance. http://angelos-supplies.com/</p>
dwc309 on Snow Plowing with Roboticsdwc309urn:uuid:7e323797-6584-3d38-1b3c-bc68fb4bf7c32010-12-28T09:08:29-07:00<p>For the BlackJester.....<br>
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319473,00.html</p>
Calif on Snow Plowing with RoboticsCalifurn:uuid:404aaee7-e0c0-fd78-cd2d-ebd05879466c2010-12-22T19:39:36-07:00<p>It beats the knitting robot. Obviously not going to replace the union protected government road crew. Now if only it could be autonomous.</p>
Blacklab1 on Snow Plowing with RoboticsBlacklab1urn:uuid:9c56cef0-05e3-c3ba-5213-d56dce6987292010-12-22T00:46:37-07:00<p>This looks great!<br>
But what was the condition of the snow you were plowing? It looks like powder? Have you tried wet snow?<br>
And if you had to use a blower how do you see that attached to your tank?<br>
And are you monitoring the discharge of the Batteries while you are playing in the snow? And if you are, how's your Amps to Voltage curve looking Vs Time?<br>
I guess because you are using lead acid batteries that helps with the traction, but what does that do for your power usage?</p>
Customer #109088 on Snow Plowing with RoboticsCustomer #109088urn:uuid:50ae4010-7e3f-74dd-b8ca-b2c9c59731972010-12-21T23:57:01-07:00<p>This past week we got down to -40 Fahrenheit (or Celsius, it is the same as this temperature) with windchill. A week or two ago we (Calgary, Alberta) were the second coldest place on the planet...next to the south pole. :( I tried to build a bot similar to this a year or so ago, but we have such heaps of snow on either side of our driveway that the robot would have to lift it about 5 feet at some times in the year to get it on top.</p>
dnear1 on Snow Plowing with Roboticsdnear1urn:uuid:31f9b3ad-bd83-8ba8-9816-283fb7439b2f2010-12-21T11:09:49-07:00<p>You obviously haven't dealt much with motors.<br>
My 1/10 carbon fiber RC car pulls upwards of 78 amps from a 7.2v NiMh pack under acceleration. That's from a 14 turn mag motor and run of the mill ESC. He has 6 wheels and a lot of weight to push around (including the snow). I'd guess he has 6 much larger independent motors pulling a max of 110 amps each. Totally realistic!</p>
noworries on Snow Plowing with Roboticsnoworriesurn:uuid:db66b155-46cc-c349-7fed-52c064282dc72010-12-21T09:31:01-07:00<p>Sweet!<br>
Must be nice to have a CNC milling machine to make custom parts on.<br>
Next you can make a mower deck attachment for use in the summertime.</p>
dksmall on Snow Plowing with Roboticsdksmallurn:uuid:c391d093-f5d5-e9e8-4a33-165e748f36252010-12-21T08:26:07-07:00<p>Some of the Battlebot guys use to put plows on their combat robots to keep them working in the off season. The on-board camera is a good idea to help steer the thing!</p>
rj44319 on Snow Plowing with Roboticsrj44319urn:uuid:1ae66b84-a81a-4b92-9335-78c14184fd592010-12-21T08:10:21-07:00<p>still, what motor do you know that will stand even 330amps of power? (thats small enough to fit in that robot) not even mag motors....</p>
CF on Snow Plowing with RoboticsCFurn:uuid:3f625945-5965-bcba-f2ca-6098fcc797ed2010-12-21T05:47:34-07:00<p>I think they are saying it's capable of providing 660 amps.</p>
smartroad on Snow Plowing with Roboticssmartroadurn:uuid:62dc3189-d700-6aae-40a9-91ac7027e96d2010-12-21T04:33:54-07:00<p>Ah? hehe (edit: I mean AmpHour not Ahhhh!)</p>
EneilShade on Snow Plowing with RoboticsEneilShadeurn:uuid:b08a66e9-d162-c83e-1b53-9f3b13d60cb52010-12-21T01:35:04-07:00<p>"Thank's for watching!"<br>
... That just makes me sad. Does "for watching" belong to Thank? Or is it trying to say "Thank is for watching"?<br>
And 660 amps of POWER?! AMPERAGE IS NOT A MEASURE OF POWER!<br>
Still cool though...</p>
WimL on Snow Plowing with RoboticsWimLurn:uuid:db3bfce4-43b3-9137-50c9-8b8b625facd72010-12-21T00:05:30-07:00<p>Not really... try calculating how much energy it takes to boil that amount of snow. Even assuming a high system voltage, say 96V, 660A is only 60kW. Which is a lot of power in a mechanical context, sure, but not a whole lot if you're trying to convert ice to steam rapidly.</p>
SoTexEE on Snow Plowing with RoboticsSoTexEEurn:uuid:9a5400c3-bcb3-0462-3cc4-1b1e65e30edf2010-12-20T23:37:28-07:00<p>Awesome engineering! I would have to replace the plow with a reel mower seeing as it was 85*F out this morning.</p>
intranick on Snow Plowing with Roboticsintranickurn:uuid:fbad4b44-1074-bee1-066c-ca15d83360fc2010-12-20T23:08:05-07:00<p>I wonder how many pounds of snow this could push. all it needs is some autonomy -- and a chair that i can ride it from for the fun of it :)</p>
numinit on Snow Plowing with Roboticsnuminiturn:uuid:966ba60d-cd12-4812-7ae7-75bfb419db042010-12-20T21:36:43-07:00<p>Nope. :P But I am with a certain Colorado high school building a high altitude balloon project for launch this spring.</p>
rj44319 on Snow Plowing with Roboticsrj44319urn:uuid:9233a06a-6688-f962-09ef-e93436a5803c2010-12-20T20:23:23-07:00<p>660Amps of "power" semmes a little unpractical...<br>
My 340lb combat bot (from University of Akron) didn't even pull that much...just saying</p>
fle33.com on Snow Plowing with Roboticsfle33.comurn:uuid:78b02bca-5789-48f4-2683-8ce835fe6c8c2010-12-20T20:17:47-07:00<p>Wouldn't 660amps be better used melting the snow with a plasma gun?<br>
The resulting water turning back to ice might not be so pedestrian friendly I guess. Maybe 660amps is enough to turn snow to steam..</p>
Ben121 on Snow Plowing with RoboticsBen121urn:uuid:b5f483d9-6048-4c5b-35e8-bbf7452c19442010-12-20T19:56:44-07:00<p>Coffinbot?</p>
SomeGuy123 on Snow Plowing with RoboticsSomeGuy123urn:uuid:988e0c45-c260-a7b6-fdfa-c1667ad0f87d2010-12-20T19:45:30-07:00<p>Are you in FIRST Robotics?</p>
Customer #114232 on Snow Plowing with RoboticsCustomer #114232urn:uuid:f52e7005-2719-0864-40df-494873dd5f102010-12-20T18:49:34-07:00<p>I'll buy one. How much?<br>
Ed from NY</p>
Young Maker on Snow Plowing with RoboticsYoung Makerurn:uuid:d566b4e4-35f5-2675-d2fa-4fc9c767b3f92010-12-20T18:24:25-07:00<p>Damm is 20F here in the washington area. U got it great for colorado.</p>
CaptainKirk on Snow Plowing with RoboticsCaptainKirkurn:uuid:e3f8db31-dcab-47c3-31f3-2703dfadfdcf2010-12-20T18:21:51-07:00<p>Definitely cool, well made, and not to be a Luddite, but $10,000 will hire a lot of neighborhood kids with shovels (who can then buy stuff from Sparkfun and learn about electronics). :-)</p>
numinit on Snow Plowing with Roboticsnuminiturn:uuid:293f2989-1feb-b7de-ba55-fcd2f34c5e762010-12-20T18:11:40-07:00<p>Not driving, riding with my parents. Family ski trips FTW.</p>
Scott14 on Snow Plowing with RoboticsScott14urn:uuid:a1268574-b760-7381-9cdf-9db32d561cd52010-12-20T16:03:56-07:00<p>Just keep it away from cats and other small furry critters . . . or someone will pass a law and ban anything autonomous forever more. Well, at least they will here in Washington, were we stupid citizens need to be controlled by the lawmakers cause we just don't know better.</p>
MatthewR on Snow Plowing with RoboticsMatthewRurn:uuid:f4270aa8-187a-678e-56a7-e483da1d09fe2010-12-20T16:03:40-07:00<p>Very cool robot. I wonder how deep and heavy of snow it works with, and how well those tires would work on icy surfaces. Somewhere I saw a lot of info on this bot (months ago, maybe a year ago), and IIRC, it's price tag was something like $10,000 USD, which I would believe, based on size and quality.</p>
Chairforce on Snow Plowing with RoboticsChairforceurn:uuid:9b012b90-6b98-c723-85bb-95cf79d7c0832010-12-20T15:56:07-07:00<p>Install Gps and a recognition system, so it can see people and pets, and sell it to cities to plow sidewalks.</p>
tiagofumo on Snow Plowing with Roboticstiagofumourn:uuid:20bc0bd8-a310-eb6e-8832-cf37b21d60332010-12-20T13:42:51-07:00<p>I believe this was not cheap =S<br>
660 amps, that charge and the fact that they used a CNC to build some mechanic parts makes me think this was not cheap</p>
tiagofumo on Snow Plowing with Roboticstiagofumourn:uuid:d9f4000e-2768-4a2d-d211-d9df5936d2ed2010-12-20T13:38:51-07:00<p>this music when the robot appears, is the music from microchip escs videos in youtube</p>
BlackJester on Snow Plowing with RoboticsBlackJesterurn:uuid:52f0cb27-438e-90a8-ceaa-455be7e16aaf2010-12-20T13:15:08-07:00<p>That one bugged me too! But 660 Amps is still POWERful.<br>
Also, to add to the growing list of additions, I'd suggest side lights or a rotating light to increase it's visibility to others on snowy days. It'd be a tragedy for Roboplow to get plowed into by a neighbour backing out of their driveway or something.<br>
edit - I just had an idea from one of the above comments: What about a robot that doesn't plow or blow the snow out of the way, but instead packs it into snowballs and launches them. MWAA HAA HAA!</p>
oren on Snow Plowing with Roboticsorenurn:uuid:348971f7-d7e3-d81e-9b29-90fb538833702010-12-20T13:06:15-07:00<p>Very cool. But ARGH... Amps are not units of power! *&%$&#!!!</p>
Tejon on Snow Plowing with RoboticsTejonurn:uuid:522a852a-cabb-a228-e22a-027e65c8bf7f2010-12-20T11:43:39-07:00<p>Where I can found motors of enough powerful for this type of application?</p>
scharkalvin on Snow Plowing with Roboticsscharkalvinurn:uuid:6e462e6f-59ab-08e3-1d01-1c77323539e92010-12-20T10:56:45-07:00<p>Wow, like a Roomba on steroids. I wonder if this thing is like a RPV or if it avoids collisions on it's own via the camera (hey stick a Kinect on it!). In the video it missed a parked truck by 'that' much.<br>
I can just imagine it plowing down someone walking down the sidewalk or into a car backing out of a driveway.</p>
Jassper on Snow Plowing with RoboticsJassperurn:uuid:d787a7b9-76a0-c0f9-e4a0-010440a3508b2010-12-20T10:52:02-07:00<p>Just saw one like this on the news the other day. A local guy here made his with a snow blower instead of a plow. Makes more sense as you don't need the heavy torque motors to push a lot of snow, just throw it out of the way.</p>
Erik-Sparkfun on Snow Plowing with RoboticsErik-Sparkfunurn:uuid:24928e58-ba64-e9bd-df3e-e163154db4ec2010-12-20T10:44:36-07:00<p>I NEED one of these. Seriously.</p>
Chris S on Snow Plowing with RoboticsChris Surn:uuid:f3c38373-2235-188b-fed9-2b5ce626beb02010-12-20T10:37:49-07:00<p>Posting on SFE while driving. How wonderful.</p>
MikeGrusin on Snow Plowing with RoboticsMikeGrusinurn:uuid:9eb203be-20c7-3ef9-f0da-23e0bcc152d32010-12-20T10:01:15-07:00<p>Just add autonomy for the stay-in-bed win!</p>
Nakor on Snow Plowing with RoboticsNakorurn:uuid:11fee8e7-080c-c918-9975-236f6ae9ff132010-12-20T09:56:02-07:00<p>I'm from Ontario and one of these would be amazingly useful. Probably would want to put some tank tracks on it instead but that's awesome. I would add a salt/sand spreader and 3 more cameras (preferably.) It doesn't look as though there is quite enough peripheral vision built in to this one.</p>
Draxssab on Snow Plowing with RoboticsDraxssaburn:uuid:5c055d8a-2758-cbb9-636f-451b4f552ec72010-12-20T09:40:57-07:00<p>I agree for the salt spreader.<br>
But for here in Quebec (Canada) it would need tracks at the place of wheels, since we have "a bit" more snow :D</p>
numinit on Snow Plowing with Roboticsnuminiturn:uuid:b09fd2b7-3bbf-a88a-5b4f-a25d63e2d1d82010-12-20T09:38:42-07:00<p>I'm on I-70 right now with my family driving to Vail. We aren't even to the tunnel yet and have been driving for an hour and a half. We need an army of RoboPlows right now.</p>
chubs1646 on Snow Plowing with Roboticschubs1646urn:uuid:1706a19d-f944-4d94-6753-378ad9d169fe2010-12-20T09:36:52-07:00<p>I have been working on building one of these myself for the last 3 years. mine only has 4 wheels but they are all 4 run by incredibly high torque wheelchair motors. also has a motorized broadcast spreader for salt. I live in Iowa and dont get NEARLY the amount of snow you guys do but it certainly was born from a see a need fill a need mentality.</p>
BigHomie on Snow Plowing with RoboticsBigHomieurn:uuid:f7b6f014-0f23-4d07-5ef3-0ee5ee30e73d2010-12-20T09:14:21-07:00<p>Awesome. They should sell the kits. If they don't already. Would be great to own in MI, we're known to randomly get snow all year 'round, and 80 degree days also.</p>
Time4PlanB on Snow Plowing with RoboticsTime4PlanBurn:uuid:14461662-44dc-86f4-f27c-625b3863f4d92010-12-20T09:09:10-07:00<p>Cool project! Needs a salt spreader on the back and then its the ultimate winter machine!</p>
JakkeFire on Snow Plowing with RoboticsJakkeFireurn:uuid:562be22b-6baf-e93e-3931-212c0ed803612010-12-20T08:50:02-07:00<p>over here (Belgium) we're having a record number of snowy days since 1945. Help! The poles are shifting.</p>
jakkjakk on Snow Plowing with Roboticsjakkjakkurn:uuid:96296684-10f6-c638-7b83-99b07db907f22010-12-20T08:48:04-07:00<p>too freaking cool. How much? Where can I get one?</p>