Look Out Canada the Driverless Zamboni Is on Its Way

[UPDATE: After the publication of this post, Zamboni contacted us. They claimed that "Your article titled “Clear the Ice – the Driverless Zamboni is Coming” features improper references to our federally and internationally registered trademark, ZAMBONI." Our lawyers told us to go ahead and change it, because technically, they are correct. Therefore, every reference to an ice resurfacing vehicle, colloquially known as a Zamboni™, will be updated to "reflect the correct reference which would either be 'ice resurfacer' or 'ice resurfacing machine'" as per the company's wishes.]

Back in the good old days when I was a kid playing hockey in Canada, ice resurfacing machine drivers were the rock stars of the arena: smoking cigarettes as they cleaned the ice, blaring AC/DC on their Walkman, and sometimes swearing at you to “get the fuck off the ice.” Then they’d roll their slow cube on wheels through the open boards and into the abyss of the arena garage.

But now robots are about to take all of that away from every Canadian kid looking up to their ice resurfacing machine-driving heroes. According to a report in the Winona Daily News out of Minnesota, drivers should look out for their jobs, because the driverless Zamboni is on its way.

A local inventor from Winona named Paul Van Eijl said his driverless “Ice Jet” prototype system can do the job of a classic ice resurfacing machine in half the time. Using multiple robotic cleaners all controlled through GPS coordinates, the machines will outnumber the slow-moving traditional Zamboni. In other words, it’s basically like a roomba system for ice cleaning.

Not only will it be completely machine operated, but Van Eijl says the autonomous ice resurfacing machine recycles the ice that’s gathered, melts it into water, and re-uses it later for more resurfacing. With the added bonus of being electric—plenty of ice resurfacing machines still in use are gas or propane powered, and emit fumes—the Ice Jet could cut down on fuel fees and bad air for local arenas.

Cost effectiveness seems to be its greatest selling point. After first when you're a kid watching the ice resurfacing machine driver is a novelty. Then you get sick of watching it drive around in circles for 20 minutes. For arenas time is money and with multiple autonomous ice resurfacers cutting down on watering times, arenas could add extra games and reap additional revenues—all the while cutting down on the human wages of  ice resurfacing machine operators.

Van Eijl told the Winona Daily News that the biggest challenge facing his prototype is the traditional role of the ice resurfacing machine driver and the nostalgic value they carry within hockey circles.

“The biggest challenge to the Ice Jet is the tradition of the ice resurfacing machine… The machine has been a staple of the game of hockey for over 60 years,” Van Eijl wrote in a business plan for his machine system quoted by the paper.

Apparently, some companies are circling Van Eijl's Ice Jet, with one NHL team (my guess is his local Minnesota Wild), already interested in the autonomous ice resurfacing system.

When autonomous ice resurfacing machines arrive, the loss of the classic "rink rat" will change Canadian arena culture forever. But let's face it, this technology makes perfect sense: GPS-guided robotics isn’t really a new development any more and applying it to the ice resurfacing machine is a logical step. And the easily navigable and circular terrain of a hockey rink is practically begging for it. The only difference will be, instead of hockey players raving about local Joe’s ice at the Cumberland arena—they can thank a team of autonomous ice resurfacing machines.

That being said, this isn’t the first time a disruptive technology challenged the face of a traditional sport. Over the last few years FIFA was under major public scrutiny to institute goal-line technology for the World Cup to cut down on human errors and egregious missed calls like this one. FIFA eventually caved and it's trying it out in Brazil, while all the while some traditionalists moan that time spent on goal reviews will make games last well beyond the standard 90 minutes.

Similarly, quicker ice resurfacing machines could make for shorter breaks between games in the NHL or junior leagues, meaning the game will become more of an endurance race. That, or the commercial break times will maintain the status quo. The real change will be in local arenas where rising ice rental rates in Canada have driven enrollment numbers down in hockey. And it's a phenomenon some Canadian pundits call a crisis for our national sport. More revenues and cheaper ice time for local arenas could entice more participants. Even so, we’re likely a few years away before the Ice Jet or other driverless ice resurfacing machines make it to the consumer world.

There’s no denying ice resurfacing machine driving is a thankless job that local people in small towns all over Canada do. But not unlike the milkman, the nostalgic value of the job is usurped by practicality and the evolution of technology. In the end, there will be those who decry the loss of the Zamboni driver as a hockey tragedy and an attack on the foundation of Canadiana. But then the next generation of hockey players will grow up thinking the several little ice resurfacing machine robots that don’t swear at them, are pretty chill after all.