As Winter Storm Fern buried parts of New Jersey in snow, sleet, and ice, one suburban driveway turned into a live demo of what hands-free winter might look like. Instead of a bundled-up homeowner behind a roaring machine, a compact snowblower robot traced neat paths across a 6,000-sq-ft expanse while its owner watched from inside. The scene, captured on video and shared widely online, showed a consumer robot calmly conquering a job that usually takes backbreaking human labor.
The driveway belongs to electric-vehicle advocate Tom Moloughney in Chester, New Jersey, and the machine is an autonomous snowblower from Yarbo Global. In the middle of a brutal blizzard, the robot methodically carved lanes through deep accumulation, flinging snow aside and returning to its dock to recharge before resuming the grind. For a region used to shovels, gas blowers, and sore backs, it was a glimpse of a different kind of snow day.
The New Jersey driveway that became a test track
The quiet streets of Chester, New Jersey, suddenly found themselves at the center of a viral tech moment when Moloughney set his robot loose during Winter Storm Fern. His property includes a sprawling 6,000-sq-ft driveway, the kind of surface that usually demands either a contractor or a long morning behind a snowblower. Instead, the compact tracked unit rolled out alone into the swirling snow, its headlights cutting through the whiteout as it began tracing a grid. Video from the scene shows the machine steadily advancing and pivoting, leaving behind clean asphalt while the storm continued to dump fresh powder.
Clips of the run quickly spread across social platforms, including a widely shared Instagram reel that framed the robot as a kind of domestic rover. Another video highlighted how the unit kept working as accumulation increased, turning the brutal New Jersey snowstorm into what looked like a controlled experiment in autonomy. In a region where residents are used to digging out cars and walkways by hand, the sight of a robot calmly handling the worst of Winter Storm Fern felt both surreal and oddly inevitable.
How the Yarbo robot tackled 6,000-sq-ft of snow
The machine at the center of the storm is part of a modular system from Yarbo Global, designed to swap attachments for different yard tasks. In snowblower mode, the unit uses tracks for traction and a front-mounted auger to chew through drifts, then hurls the discharge through a rotating chute. According to company specifications cited in coverage of the event, the autonomous snowblower can clear up to 12 inches of snow and throw it as far as 40 feet, enough to keep snowbanks well away from the cleared surface. The robot navigates using predefined virtual boundaries, following a planned route across the driveway and adjusting its passes to avoid overlap while still catching stray edges.
In Chester, that meant the robot could methodically work its way across the entire 6,000-sq-ft area, then return to its dock when the battery ran low, recharge, and automatically resume clearing once ready. One detailed account of the storm run described how, as accumulation increased, the robot kept throwing snow aside and following its pre-defined path while the homeowner watched from a warm kitchen window, turning the blizzard into a real-world stress test of the system’s autonomy. That methodical behavior is highlighted in a report that framed the driveway as a proving ground for emerging autonomous yard-maintenance technology.
From Viral video to SNOW BOT celebrity
What might have been a niche gadget demo quickly turned into a social media spectacle. Local TV segments described a Viral video of the autonomous snow blower at work in Chester, with viewers marveling that “it actually works” as the robot traced its careful lines. Another station’s coverage of the Viral clip emphasized how unusual it was to see a driveway in New Jersey cleared without anyone braving the cold, turning Moloughney’s front yard into a kind of neighborhood attraction. The footage resonated far beyond the state, tapping into a broader fascination with robots that quietly take over tedious chores.
On Instagram, the robot was recast as a character in its own right, with one reel labeling it a SNOW BOT as it successfully cleared a massive New Jersey driveway. Another clip, shared with the caption “A New Jersey homeowner used” the robot to clear paths, credited creator @seoulmaan and amplified the sense that this was more than a one-off stunt. That reel, which highlighted the ROBOTIC SNOWBLOWER in action, helped cement the device as a minor winter celebrity, complete with its own fan base and skeptics in the comments.
The homeowner, the price tag, and the promise of staying inside
At the center of the story is Moloughney, identified in multiple reports simply as the Tom Moloughney whose driveway became the robot’s stage. He has described the experience in straightforward terms: while the storm raged, he was inside sipping a coffee as the machine did the heavy lifting. One detailed account of the purchase notes that the autonomous snow blower cost $4,999, a figure that instantly sparked debate about whether convenience and safety justify that kind of outlay. For Moloughney, who often documents technology on his State Of Charge channels, the purchase also doubled as content, turning a personal gadget into a public case study.
The financial question looms large for other homeowners watching the clips. One report contrasted Moloughney’s experience with the reality that many Americans still push traditional snow blowers for an hour and a half or more after big storms, often in subfreezing temperatures. In that context, a robot that can clear deep snow, throw it up to 40 feet, and keep working while its owner stays indoors is not just a luxury toy but a potential safety upgrade for older residents or those with health issues. The question is whether early adopters like Moloughney are outliers or the leading edge of a broader shift in how people handle winter maintenance.
Setup, skepticism, and what comes after Winter Storm Fern
For all the excitement, even fans of the robot are quick to point out that it is not a magic wand. In one televised segment, a reporter noted that You have to set the angle of the chute and define the perimeters before the robot can operate, describing it as “a lot of setup” with a big reward waiting at the end. That sentiment is echoed in coverage that walks through the calibration process, from drawing virtual boundaries around the driveway to fine-tuning how far the snow is thrown so it does not bury walkways or neighboring properties. The payoff, as Moloughney’s driveway shows, is a system that can then run largely unattended, even as conditions worsen.
Winter Storm Fern itself has become a reference point for what these machines can handle. Reports on the storm emphasize that Winter Storm Fern brought snow, sleet, and ice to New Jersey, yet the Yarbo Global unit kept clearing a large driveway, returning to its dock to recharge and automatically resuming once ready. Another account of the same event describes how, as accumulation increased, the robot methodically worked its way across the surface, throwing snow aside and following its pre-defined path while being monitored from a warm kitchen window, a scene captured in a video that framed the storm as a real-world test for autonomous snow removal. For skeptics who wondered whether the robot could handle anything beyond a light dusting, Fern offered a very public answer.
More from Morning Overview