Order An Army of These NOW

Filed in National by on February 14, 2010

Please — City of Wilmington and State of Delaware, we need these Robot Snowplows now:

Yuki-taro takes in snow at the front, squeezes it into rectangular bricks, and excretes said bricks out the back. Try teaching your dog to do that! The bricks can be easily stacked and stored for summer cooling needs – unless those pesky neighborhood kids get at them first!

These Robot Snowplows won’t do much good on I-95 or Rt 1, but seem perfect for clearing side streets and development cul-de-sacs everywhere. And stacking those bricks seems more orderly than throwing more snow onto a pile that may come crashing down on your car as it freezes.

Though only a prototype at present, Yuki-taro’s creators in the snowy city of Niigata expect to have a marketable version ready within 5 years at a cost of under 1 million yen (about $9000). That may sound like a lot, but it’s likely that municipalities would pay the cost and deploy them where needed.

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"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas." -Shirley Chisholm

Comments (4)

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  1. anon says:

    They would work well for crowd control too.

  2. Lizard says:

    American lawyers are salivating at the prospect…

    I am suing for a bazillion dollars cause your robot:

    scratched my car
    knocked me down
    hurt my kid (who was riding it)
    ate my cat/dog
    nibbled on a homeless person (class action)

  3. Dave M. says:

    This ranks right up there with the name brand “Hello Kitty” personal vibrator.

  4. anonone says:

    Wall-e for snow.