Winnipeg Airport is the first in North America to use the unmanned snow plow machine, called Otto. Otto does not require a driver to move and do the job. It was developed by Northstar Robotics together with engineers from the Airport Technologies. In the next few years, the novelty will be used for cleaning the runway at the local airport, including the time of extreme weather conditions, when regular worker and human controlled snow clearing equipment is not working.
The Otto snow plow is capable of moving along pre-set coordinates in the GPS system. It is equipped with several sensors and lidars that track the location of objects near the new model. When there is a risk of a collision, the machine stops, and then, when nothing interferes with the planned course of travel, it resumes movement along a predetermined trajectory. At the same time, the Otto model is equipped with a control switch to manual mode and back.
Sean Scherer, the President, and Founder of Northstar Robotics said that his company looks forward to working with the Winnipeg Airport Authority and Airport Technologies, which were the first in North America to apply this technology for snow removal at the airports.
Also, Canada banned Boeing’s fast-selling 737 MAX this week after a fatal Ethiopian Airlines plane crash on Sunday, the second deadly disaster for the aircraft in five months.
The causes of the Sunday accident are still unknown, but experts had already found some similarities of a few recent crashes involving Boeing 737.
Fellow Winnipeggers, if you have a flight scheduled in the near future, that involved Air Canada Boeing 737 MAX plane, please contact the airline for a flight reschedule information. Check your email box, you might get the letter or a call from a company representative about such changes. Also, many travelers decided themselves to cancel their flights or change to a different carrier just as a safety measure.