The winter of 2026 has put a robot that removes snow at the top of everyone’s wish list as a February blizzard set records across multiple U.S. states. The good news is that a snow-removing robot is not a white dream. The bad news is humans are still a lot cheaper.

The Yarbo snow blower is getting lots of attention as videos of the machine in operation have gone viral. The machine has its charms. The main one is that it operates autonomously and continuously. So while it can clear out a one-inch layer of snow after the fact, the trick is to run it continuously as a major snowfall develops.

While the Yarbo snow blower looks like a small tank, a profile that may bely its sophistication, there’s a camera so it can avoid obstacles and there are protective bumpers just in case. An app includes weather forecasting, and it can receive OTA upgrade data.

The downside is that the Yarbo snow blower costs $5,000. It also isn’t a machine that works straight out of the box. Assembly and programming can eat up a day. Some buyers have recommended hiring someone for the task.

Meanwhile in Brooklyn, Reflex Robotics tasked its new robot with snow removal duties outside its headquarters. The remotely-controlled Reflex robot has a human-like torso mounted on a forklift-style mast with a wheeled base. It wields a shovel pretty well but those smallish wheels look like they’d get stuck in any kind of snow drift.

And on the other side of the world in China, a humanoid made by Unitree Robotics walked 130,000 steps across snow and ice in -47-degrees Celsius temperatures, clad in an orange jacket and plastic sleeves so the ice wouldn’t gum up motors and joints. Alas, no one thought to give it a shovel.

Still, after the winter of 2026, a robot snow remover may be a hot product for winters to come, as climate change promises more severe weather. Yarbo may be ahead of the next winter storm. But don’t retire the shovel just yet.