Autonomous Snowplow Design

A monocular autonomously-controlled snowplow (M.A.C.S.) was designed for participation in the Third Annual Autonomous Snowplow Competition. The name M.A.C.S. stems from the vehicle’s most prominent and key feature: a single rotating laser. This laser is the main component of the vehicle’s guidance system. The robot’s drivetrain consists of four electric motors with shaft mounted encoders for velocity feedback. These motors provide a total of 5 hp to propel the 526-lb snowplow measuring 1.27 m long, 0.96 m wide and 0.97 m tall. Given M.A.C.S.’s size and weight, safety is critical. WiFi communications are utilized for remote control operations and relay of status information, as well as a separate radio-control for emergency power shut-off. All of the above features and components are integrated using a Matlab®-based development environment for rapid prototyping and algorithm design, while low-level commands are implemented using C++ for speed and latency. During the competition, M.A.C.S. autonomously clears snow from two competition fields: a 1-m wide by 10-m long “I”-shaped field, and a double “I”-shaped field with the same length and a width of 2 m.