While underwater ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) can be quite useful, there are some tasks that require action to be taken both underwater and on the land. That's exactly where the amphibious Onyx Unmanned Ground Vehicle is designed to come in.
The Onyx is manufactured by Canadian company Deep Trekker, which is best known for its high-end ROVs. In fact, the device even looks a bit like one of the firm's Revolution ROVs, with four wheels instead of six thrusters.
Those motorized wheels are clad in all-terrain rubber tires, which allow the remotely controlled Onyx to make its way over both topside and submerged obstacles – it can be driven or lowered down to a maximum depth of 50 meters (164 ft) without springing a leak. It's wirelessly controlled on land, but must be tethered to a communications cable for underwater use.
Users pilot the Onyx via an included handheld remote, which displays live video from the vehicle's camera(s) on an integrated 7-inch LCD screen.
The Onyx comes standard with a remotely tilt-able 1080p front-facing camera, which is assisted in dark conditions by four LED spotlights that put out a combined 1,100 lumens. Buyers can upgrade to a 4K camera, or upgrade even further by opting for additional cameras in the rear and on either side.
Power is provided by a 232-Wh lithium-ion battery, one charge of which should reportedly be good for two hours of use. That said, the vehicle can also be hard-wired to an external power source.
The Onyx itself measures 599 mm long by 428 mm wide by 250 mm tall (23.6 by 16.9 by 9.8 in), has 100 mm (3.9 in) of ground clearance, and tips the scales at 26.5 kg (58 lb). It has a maximum speed of 1.1 meters (3.6 ft) per second.
Depending on the intended use, accessories such as sonar or LiDAR modules can be added. Usage scenarios include disaster/hazardous materials response, security patrolling, mine mapping, or industrial inspections.
We're told that pricing for the Onyx Unmanned Ground Vehicle starts at US$43,000. It can be seen in action, in the video below.
Source: Deep Trekker
