AviMarmot: An avalanche survival device

Our project

Backcountry skiing is becoming increasingly popular, but unfortunately deaths caused by avalanches are also increasing. When someone is buried in an avalanche, they have a rescue window of under 10 to 15 minutes. In large avalanche debris fields – which can span multiple square kilometres – rescuers rely on time-consuming grid searching to pick up beacon signals that have a limited range of 70 metres. 

We designed and built AviMarmot, a survival device that autonomously burrows from the buried skier to the surface of the snow, where it then releases a high-visibility marker to guide rescuers to the victim. 

This high-visibility signal can be seen from hundreds of metres away and dramatically shortens rescue times to save lives.

Our design solution

Skiers would carry the AviMarmot in their backpack, connected to a T-handle on the shoulder strap. If an avalanche begins, the skier would activate the device by pulling the T-handle. Once buried, the AviMarmot uses its onboard accelerometer to detect motion, waiting for the avalanche to stop before burrowing upward to the surface and releasing a large balloon or flare to indicate the buried skier’s position.

The final product integrates a cutting blade to clear the snow ahead of the device, a three-piece tracked drivetrain for propulsion and steering in three dimensions, onboard sensing electronics, and a tethered power system (with the battery remaining in the user’s pack). 

The control system detects acceleration and orientation to steer the device towards the surface via the shortest path. A photodiode detects surfacing and motor drivers control each track and drill independently. The system is also designed to prevent water ingress and operate in cold conditions.

The technical challenges we faced

A lot of engineering work builds off existing research or technologies. This was not the case for our project. We could not find a single example of a robot that can burrow through snow, which is a very complicated medium due to its variability and non-linear properties. There are very few – if any – equations describing how snow behaves during the mechanical loading that occurs as the robot burrows. 

Early on in this project we met with a glaciologist at UBC and avalanche forecaster at Avalanche Canada, who confirmed the lack of equations and data, instead suggesting that we rely on experimental testing and our intuition.

The device needs to be able to cut away hard snow in front of it and displace that snow behind it. We tested many options before arriving at our final design. For example, our original plan was a helical compression screw, similar to a lag bolt. This design was not successful, which led us to a more complicated track and drill set up; however, this more complicated design had numerous technical issues. During horizontal drilling, the snow packed into the evacuation channels, causing the drill motor to stall frequently, our 3D-printed components weren’t strong enough…the list goes on! 

Testing posed logistical challenges. Although we did some load testing in the lab, we needed data in the field. That meant assembling a full prototype and then – in a year where Vancouver didn’t have any snow – driving up to Cypress Mountain and Seymour Mountain where we could test our device in a variety of snow conditions. 

There were many disappointing test days, although they all gave us useful information for further modifications to improve success rates.

What’s next for our project

We have a follow-up meeting with Avalanche Canada to share our results. There’s a lot of additional work that would need to be done to develop this into a marketable survival device, including weight and size reduction, improved performance through material selection, and integration of the visual indication system.  

What we’re most proud of

Seeing our device finally emerge out of a deep pile of snow was incredibly rewarding. It was the culmination of hundreds of hours of work and showed that our device is capable of doing what we intended. Similarly, demonstrating our device at Design & Innovation Day – complete with snow we brought from the UBC ice rink – was an important moment in front of our professors, friends and family.

The incremental progress we made between each test was also a source of pride. 

That progress did not always come as quickly as we would have liked, but we all kept pushing to find solutions. This project is a great example of integrated engineering, combining multiple specializations into one project and empowering us to gain new skills and learn from each other. 

Finally, we are proud to have developed a technology that has a real purpose, addresses a significant need and could supplement currently backcountry rescue tools and save lives.

Design & Innovation Day