Clearing the driveway is snow problem for this father-and-son team.
In fact, Alejandro Maldonado and his son Alexei get excited every time a dumping of the white stuff is in the forecast. It’s an excuse to test out their home-made robot designed to clear the driveway of their Mississauga, Ont. home.
“It’s three horsepower, so it can plow up to probably 12 inches of snow, light or heavy,” Alejandro told CTV Toronto on Friday. “It can turn 360 degrees, (go) backwards and forwards, and go 11 kilometres per hour at full speed.”
With two electric motors powering the 73-kilogram machine, and a blade that can be raised and lowered, the Maldonados’ remote control creation makes quick work of whatever Mother Nature leaves behind.
“It’s very fun to drive,” said Alexei. “I don’t have to use a shovel anymore. I can just use this thing.”
For Alejandro, the idea was about more than shirking chores. He said he came up with the two-month long project after noticing how much time his son was spending with his video games.
“I tried to pick something that I could actually play with him around. So I decided I got to make a robot or something, but I want to make it useful,” he said.
The Maldonados don’t have any plans to start manufacturing their snow removal robots en masse. But Alejandro says cutting down on his son’s screen time while getting him interested in robotics made the project more than worthwhile.
“This is more fun than video games, because it’s real life,” said Alexei.
With a report from CTV Toronto’s Pat Foran
