Winners of 7th Annual ION Autonomous Snowplow Competition Announced

Manassas Virginia, February 16, 2017 –The Institute of Navigation (ION) Satellite Division held its Seventh Annual Autonomous Snowplow Competition January 26-29, 2017 at Rice Park in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota in conjunction with the 131st Saint Paul Winter Carnival.

Sponsored by The ION Satellite Division and held in cooperation with the ION North Star Section, the ION Annual Autonomous Snowplow Competition is a international event open to college and university students, as well as the general public, that challenges teams to design, build, and operate a fully autonomous snowplow using state of the art navigation and control technologies to rapidly, accurately and safely clear a designated path of snow.

Eight of initial thirteen teams ended up successfully completing all the phases of the competition and participated in frigid, yet snowless, temperatures during the four day competition, each using use state of the art navigation systems such as LIDAR, optical navigation systems, inertial instruments, magnetic sensors, ultra wide-band radio reflectors, visual odometry, GNSS, and differential GPS. Vehicle and navigation designs have progressed towards more marketable techniques, with the goal of someday becoming a commercial snowplow product. The remaining five teams were unable to compete in the final events due to various mechanical and electrical issues, which often challenge all teams every year of the competition. Teams were judged based upon their cumulative scores earned throughout the multiple competition phases, including presentations and vehicle dynamic events

Teams included students, partners from private industry, and faculty advisors from Case Western Reserve University; Dunwoody College of Technology; Iowa State University, Michigan Technological University, North Dakota State University, The University of Michigan, Dearborn, The University of Minnesota, the University of St. Thomas and Wayne State University.

• First place was awarded to the Case Western Reserve team “OTTO XL.” The first place prize included $7,000 and a Golden Snow Globe Award.
• Second place was awarded to University of Michigan, Dearborn’s team “Yeti 7.0.” The second place prize included $4,000 and a Silver Snow Globe Award.
• Third place was awarded to the Dunwoody College of Technology’s team “Wendigo.” The third place prize included $2,000 and a Bronze Snow Globe Award.

In addition, the first place team, Case Western Reserve team “OTTO XL” is invited by the ION Satellite Division, along with a generous $3000 travel stipend, to display their winning snowplow during ION GNSS+ 2017 conference September 25-29, 2017 in Portland, Oregon.

Sponsors of the Seventh Annual ION Autonomous Snowplow Competition included Honeywell International, Inc., ASTER Labs, Inc., Orbital ATK, Inc., Oshkosh Airport Products, The Toro Company, SICK, Inc., US Bancorp, Grizzly’s Wood-Fired Grill, The MPX Group, and the ARCS Foundation.

The Eighth Annual ION Autonomous Snowplow Competition will be held in January 2018 at the Saint Paul Winter Carnival, St. Paul, Minnesota.