Experimental study on practical automatic snowplows

In this study, control technique of two types of automatic snowplow was experimentally investigated. One is a remote-controlled snowplow used for removing snow around houses, and the other is an autonomous snowplow for use in wide, open spaces such as a parking lot of a large-scale retail store. A commercially available snowplow was modified to enable remote control by the use of a personal handy-phone system. The autonomous controller utilizes a vision sensor that consists of a CCD video camera and a computer for image processing. In addition, design of a practical landmark was examined.