Today was the first snow of 2026 for us. So of course I had to send Yarbo out to play in the snow.
We’ve talked about this problem before, but I’m gonna bring it up again - The front camera can really get completely covered with snow/ice.
This is actually the worst I’ve ever seen. The camera is almost 100% blocked. There’s no way visual obstacle avoidance will ever be reliable due to this problem alone. That’s why I don’t trust it, and have it turned off.
Did that happen during the plan or before?
During the plan. Cameras were 100% free and clear beforehand.
The buildup progressed during the plan, and at one point it looked like water solidifying into ice from the camera view.
Today was a pretty windy day so I’m assuming the wind blowing snow towards Yarbo was a contributing factor.
Well, I think you know what you need to do… 
Bonus points if the tongue acts like a wiper!
@Yarbo-Forum -for real?
I have never had the camera not covered when running the S1. Sure it’s clear when it first starts.
My camera is ALWAYS obscured at some point as the work plan progresses. Whether with snow from blowback which melts to form water droplets that obscure the vision, then it freezes, then becomes totally obscured.
After running multiple work plans (20+) with S1 the current design stands no chance but manual intervention to keep the camera clear. The current hardware/heater cannot melt the snow while in operation or while on the DS if the weather is somewhat crazy.
S1 has never stopped operating when the camera is blocked. If the new update stops the work plan if the camera is covered the S1 will become very difficult to use.
Agree 100%. I’ve never seen Yarbo stop working due to the camera being covered. And if this is new functionality in the next release, that’s going to be very unfortunate.
Maybe this functionality is only in play when car avoidance is on?? That would make sense.
Great point. Then if that’s the case no one can have car avoidance on with this current hardware/camera/heater iteration.
Once the camera blocks and the unit stops it will never catch up.
I have never had the camera battle back from a wet/frosted/frozen lens. A majority of my camera obstruction comes from the diverter washing across the face of the camera throwing snow back into itself-blinding itself due to wonky snow throwing algorithm. Takes a pass or 2 and the camera already has water droplets formed on the lenses and never recovers.
I just checked my Yarbo, and the front cameras are still roughly 50% covered in snow/ice from yesterday’s runs. So the heater isn’t enough to clear the accumulation even after multiple hours.
Yeah this is my view often and Yarbo has always kept going, which is good thing, IMO.
On the inside of the S1 there’s already a ridge down the middle, it could also help to extend it out into something like this: Front camera snow covered - #23 by laudav1285
Thanks for posting. This is exactly how mine looked 23.75/7. I just got a replacement S1 for other reasons and will see if it somehow the camera heating preforms differently.
I have nerded out repeatedly with my new Yarbo by watching it through Smart Vision as it clears my snow. The front camera gets obscured all the time during operation. The snowthrower has not paused the work plan for that. Not once. Not ever.
Do you have car detection enabled or disabled? I would think if disabled, it wouldn’t matter. Enabled, I can see it saying camera is blocked and potentially stopping.
I have it disabled. I think enabling it would likely only cause unintended consequences.
@Yarbo-Forum - @ben.karrow and @Doc_Overflow are right, it works just fine with the front cameras blocked. PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THIS OR YOU WILL BRICK THE SNOWBLOWER NEXT.
I assumed it would continue. Good to know.
Yeah I’ve been leaving car detection on as my wife’s parking isn’t really reliable enough
. I do intermittently get obstacle detected alerts and it tries to go back to recharge…happens when the camera’s are clear though. Also have a ticket in for that. I cancelled the recharge and took this screenshot
So do you think the car detection has been beneficial for you overall?
To be honest, I’ve never tried it. I made an assumption that there would be issues of false obstacles being detected which I’d rather not deal with.
Sorry for the confusion caused, and thank you for raising this concern.
I’ve checked with our product team again, and to clarify: the camera being blocked will not affect the work plan. The S1 will continue operating even if the camera becomes obscured.
Apologies again for the confusion this may have caused
Yeah, there have been a couple times where the vehicle has been parked a little bit outside the no-go zone for the parking area, and It’s able to complete the plan. I actually tried running the plan a couple days ago with it off and the S1 clipped the sidewall of the tire and the plan paused. With it at least doing the perimeter pass really well it gets a pass pretty close to the van for the kids to walk there, then I’ll just re-run the plan with the no-go zone off when it’s not parked there and the rest gets cleaned up. I have bigger issues with false detection in the pathways causing Yarbo to return to the dock.
