Annual Competition Set for Jan. 19-20
We might not have much snow on the ground in the Twin Cities, but that won’t stop this year’s Autonomous Snowplow Competition from taking place January 19 and 20 at Dunwoody College of Technology.
Dunwoody will host teams from across the Midwest for the 14th Annual Autonomous Snowplow Competition. Eight teams from five colleges and universities will put their autonomous snowplows to the test as they attempt to plow their way to a podium finish.
The competition will kick off on Friday, January 19, with vehicle safety inspections and presentations from each of the teams. On Saturday, January 20, the teams will each have two attempts to plow snow from a straight T-shaped course. The public is invited to watch the snowplows in action, with course runs taking place from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m. in the Dunwoody parking lot, 818 Dunwoody Blvd., Minneapolis.
Stop by this fun, free event to see the latest in autonomous technology in action and cheer on your favorite team. Competitors include teams from: Case Western Reserve University, Iowa State University, Lake Area Tech, North Dakota State University, and Dunwoody.
THE DUNWOODY TEAMS
Three Dunwoody teams will compete in this year’s event: Snow Devil, Ice Hawks, and Road Salt. The students have spent the last several months modifying, testing, and improving the three autonomous snowplows.
The yearly event serves as an opportunity to showcase the technology, skills, and problem-solving needed to build and program machines that can independently clear piles of snow without any manual control.
ABOUT THE SNOWPLOW COMPETITION
Since 2010, college and university teams from across the United States and Canada have come together to compete in this annual event that challenges them to design, program, and construct an autonomous vehicle capable of plowing paths of snow using navigation and control technology without a human operator. Created by the Institute of Navigation (ION), the event has been previously held during the Saint Paul Winter Carnival and in Toronto, Canada.