Clearing big drifts of snow sucks, if not for the fact that you’re doing manual labor in freezing cold weather then because the tools just aren’t cute enough. Leave it to Japan to solve both these horrible problems with one delightful robot.
Yuki-taro is an autonomous snowplow robot that is loaded with GPS and a couple of video cameras to make its way around. It doesn’t just push snow around, oh no. It eats snow, turns it into compressed blocks, then poops them out so they can be used later for alternate sources of cooling and refrigeration.
Seriously, how awesome is Japan? If it’s possible to have a crush on a country, I’ve got one. Be my valentine, Japan.
Asahi [via Pink Tentacle]
