ION Autonomous Snowplough Competition Winners

First place in the Second Annual ION Autonomous Snowplough Competition, organised during the Saint Paul Winter Carnival by the Institute of Navigation Satellite Division, USA, was awarded to Ohio University students Samantha Craig, Ryan Kollar, Kuangmin Li and Pengfei Duan, supported by faculty advisors Frank van Graas, Woulter Pelgrum and Maarten Uijt de Haag. The prize included USD3,000 and a golden snow globe trophy.  

The second Annual ION Autonomous Snowplough Competition took place on W 4th Street at Rice Park in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. Six teams participated during the 4-day competition, each using unique vehicle design approaches. Teams included students, partners from private industry and faculty advisors from Dunwoody College of Technology; Miami University (Ohio); Ohio University; The University of Michigan, Dearborn; and The University of Minnesota.

Teams were judged based upon their cumulative scores earned throughout the competition phases: 75% of the total score was based upon the ploughing competition; and 25% of the total score was based upon the presentations and pre-event report.

Second place was awarded to Miami University students Chad Sobota, Mark Carroll, Robert Cole, Mark Stratis, with support from student advisors Steve Taylor, Ryan Wolfarth and Harrison Bourne and faculty advisors Jade Morton, Peter Jamieson and Janet Burge. The second place prize included USD2,000 and a silver snow globe trophy.

Third place was taken by the University of Michigan (Dearborn) students Angelo Bertani, Zach DeGeorge, Mark Lawrence, Doris Kotori, Alf Williams, with support from student advisors Benjamin Craig, Jhonatan Ferrer, and faculty advisor Narasimhamurthi Natarajan. The third place prize included USD1,000 and a bronze snow globe trophy.

In addition, the first place team, Ohio University, will be invited to display their winning snowplough during the ION GNSS 2012 Conference, due to be held 17-21 September 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee.

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

The Third Annual ION Autonomous Snowplough Competition will be held in January 2013 during the Saint Paul Carnival, St. Paul, Minnesota.