2016 Competition Vehicle Designs

Follow Us

Each year, teams come up with unique vehicle designs to match the objectives of the competition. This 2016 competition event year is no different, and all teams have prepared a vehicle concept that is anticipated to win the grand prize of the event.

Below are descriptions provided by the teams of their vehicle concept, presenting the unique features and elements of their design that make their concept a winner.

2016 Teams and Their Vehicle Design Approach

Bemidji State University (“Beaver Bot”): A four wheel drive autonomous vehicle using GPS data for real time positioning along with sensors incorporated for obstacle avoidance.

Sponsor: Bemidji State University.

Case Western Reserve University (“Herr Auto Von Snowmower 2.0”): A differential drive robot with actuated plow that is controlled by an i3 desktop computer and National Instruments cRIO controller that uses Ultra-wide Band radio beacons, encoders, and an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) for localization and a LIDAR for obstacle detection.

Sponsor: MTD, Inc.

Case Western Reserve University (“Snow Joke”): A snowplow vehicle that navigates based upon infrared beacon grid. Two electric motor drive four wheels. Uses an FPGS controller.

Sponsor: MTD, Inc.

Dunwoody College of Technology (“Snow Devils 01102”): The 2016 Snow Devil will continue to be PLC-controlled and navigated through a magnetic strip sensor. In addition to the sensor, the team plans to incorporate physical boundary detection to prevent the vehicle from leaving the navigation area. Additional sensors will be implemented in case the plow loses the magnetic track and programmed-subroutines will be run in this mode.

Sponsor: Dunwoody College of Technology

North Dakota State University (“Snow Blight”): A front wheel drive robot with Ackerman steering, obstacle detection, and GPS Navigation.

Sponsors: National Science Foundation, NDSU Mechanical Engineering Department

North Dakota State University (“Thundar 2.0”): A four-wheel skid steered vehicle weighing about 500 pounds. It is equipped with two quadrature encoders for odometry and a one-axis high precision optical gyroscope, one ruggedized three-axis MEMS Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), one Real-Time Kinematic Precise Positioning Service GPS unit, and a laser ranging unit.

Sponsors: National Science Foundation, NDSU Mechanical Engineering Department

University of British Columbia (“Snowflake”): A vehicle with a square chassis supported by four primary wheels. It uses LIDAR sensors for obstacle avoidance and Real-Time Kinematic technology for GPS-based navigation.

Sponsors: Swift Navigation, Walter H. Gage, Fluor, Shell

University of Michigan, Dearborn (“Yeti 6.0”): Based upon last year’s vehicle, the robot will implement its LIDAR-based navigation system. There will be minor improvements to the mechanical and electrical system, as well as major improvements to the code (particularly obstacle avoidance).

Sponsors: University of Michigan Dearborn College of Engineering and Computer Science, Toyota Motor Company’s North America Technical Center.

University of Michigan, Dearborn (“Zenith 2.1”): Based upon last year’s 1st-place vehicle, the robot will implement its vision-based navigation system. There will be minor mechanical modifications to improve turning, major vision code overhaul to improve accuracy, implement obstacle avoidance, and investigate the use of a robotic operating system (ROS).

Sponsors: University of Michigan Dearborn College of Engineering and Computer Science, Toyota Motor Company’s North America Technical Center.

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (“Ground Squirrel”): A vehicle that has two wheel drive with a caster to steer and a camera with a LIDAR sensor for vision tracking and navigation.

Sponsors: University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering.

University of Saint Thomas (“John Snow”): A vehicle that is a four-stroke hydraulic motor skid steered rover that uses a pixhawk controller.

Sponsors: University of Saint Thomas.