The Snow Devils 2, Dunwoody’s Autonomous Snow Plow Team, will be competing in this weekend’s Institute of Navigation’s Autonomous Snow Plow Competition at the 2012 St. Paul Winter Carnival.
Last year, Dunwoody’s team took third place out of six teams, and was their first year competing. The competition was The University of Minnesota, two teams from the University of Michigan, the University of Ohio and Ohio – Miami.
The team designed a new plow utilizing a $20 web cam to search for snow. This data is then analyzed using Visual Basic code, which drives large electric motors via a DC motor controller. The team consists of Joel Berglund (ASRO), Corey Halverson (ASRO), Reed Herme (ASRO), Ryan Bender (MDES), Tim Seidl (WMET), Joe Tebbe (ASRO), Josh Nelson (ASRO) and Ward Freeman (MDES).
An example of the robot operation can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSCpJ2cJ4T4.
Come out and support the team at the Winter Carnival from 9 am to 1 pm on Saturday, January 28 or from 10 am to 2 pm on Sunday, January 29 at Rice Park, 109 4th St. West, Downtown Saint Paul. This event is free and open to the public.
More information and rules for the Autonomous Snow Plow Competition can be found at www.autosnowplow.com and www.winter-carnival.com.
Pictures and information on last year’s competition can be found here http://dunwoody.edu/news.
Photo courtesy of the Autonomous SnowPlow Competition Facebook page.