Although drones have come through a mesmerizing development, they still have many limitations. While they are operating most of the time limitless in the sky, their utility in ground-based missions is impossible.
The project HUUVER (Hybrid UAV-UGV for Efficient Relocation of Vessels) has developed a UAV-UGV platform that combines the most useful features of a flying aircraft with an all-terrain robot.
The HUUVER is a concept created through the joint effort of seven organizations from five EU member states – Cervi Robotics (Dronehub group) (Poland), RECTANGLE (Poland), LUT University (Finland), everis (Spain), GINA Software (Czech Republic), BLADESCAPE (Austria) and Brimatech Services (Austria). The project was initiated in 2020 and is funded via the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.
This patented technical solution combines in an elegant way two types of propulsion systems that activate flying and driving capabilities in a compact and highly integrated autonomous drone.
The HUUVER drone uses the Galileo precise positioning and authentication service, providing navigation and documentation purposes. It also includes a core management system with features like mission planning navigation, guidance, and control, as well as an end-user mobile application enabling mission demand and launch control.
The construction of the drone connects the advantages of both flying and driving machines. The flexible platform is capable of almost all-terrain movements like flying, perching, driving, climbing, vertical take-off, and landing. The ability of ground-based movements will allow for reaching the areas unavailable from the air.
The hybrid drone is constructed to perform a professional mission in various, difficult conditions – such as in search and rescue or patrol missions, monitoring, and industrial intralogistics. A server-based mobile application will allow users to check the availability of the drone and call it to perform a rescue mission, watch the drone localization, time to arrive, health of the system, and many others in connection with the status of the mission.
