The HUUVER drone rolls on the ground and flies through the air

Although flying drones have many uses, there are some situations where ground drones are the best choice – they certainly use less battery power. HUUVER combines two aspects in one vehicle as it has both propellers and tank-like protectors.

Its name is an abbreviation (more or less) “Hybrid UAV-UGV for efficient movement of ships”, HUUVER is being developed within the framework of a European Union project led by the Polish company Cervi Robotics / Dronehub. Other partners include LUT University (Finland), Rectangle (Poland), Gina Software (Czech Republic), Bladescape (Austria), Brimatech Services (Austria) and NTT Data Spain.

In the current prototype, the drone is 137 cm long, 84 cm wide and 56 cm high (53.9 by 33 by 22 inches) and weighs 23 kg (51 lbs).

When missions require a vehicle to move on the ground, it uses a pair of connected treads to do so for up to 10 hours on a single charge of its lithium battery. As soon as it needs to rise into the air, it launches eight horizontal propellers, which, when not in use, are placed flush with the treads (and surrounded by them). It can then fly for up to 20 minutes.

Operators can remotely control the drone in real time by viewing the results of its Sony 4K optical cameras and FLIR thermal imaging cameras mounted on the gimbal. However, it can also fly autonomously, guided by the satellite positioning system Galileo – Velodyne Puck LITE Leader The sensor helps it detect and bypass interference with the built-in Nvidia Jetson AGX Xavier microprocessor.

A Dronehub spokesman tells us that the research and development phase of the HUUVER project has recently come to an end, and the commercialization phase is now beginning. It has not yet been reported when the drone may be available, but it is likely to be focused mainly on industrial, military and search-and-rescue use.

Meanwhile, the prototype can be seen in action in the video below – including one scenario of potential use if it is called for delivery of immediate medical supplies.

And if you think a recreational consumer version would be a good idea, well, here’s what B-Unrestrained the mini-tank / quadcopter was. Unfortunately, his campaign on Kickstarter was unsuccessful, although various copied products can be found online.

Source: HUUVER