Watch the automatic snowplow turn the snow into ice cubes

The Japanese are good at creating capable robots that can take care of things humans don't want to do, and here's the best example.

Yuki-taro, an automatic snowplow developed jointly by five research organizations in Niigata Prefecture, weighs about 400 kilograms. The vehicle is equipped with a GPS system inside, cameras installed in the "eyes" section, and its yellow-and-black body allows it to drive automatically on roads. The large mouth at the front can "swallow" the snow on the road, compress it into small ice cubes, and then expel them from the rear of the vehicle, restoring the road to a passable condition. The expelled ice cubes can be stored for reuse during the following summer. It's currently unclear what kind of energy powers Yuki-taro, but its excellent snow-clearing ability earned it the prestigious Good Design Award in Japan in 2006.

If you also find the endless task of shoveling snow in front of your door impossible, you might want to patiently wait for the commercial version of Yuki-taro to hit the market. It is expected to be launched within five years, priced at approximately $8,300 USD (about RMB 64,800).