Houston Engineering, Inc. (HEI) has always blended together traditional engineering practices with ever-changing technology, finding ways to complete our objectives more accurately and efficiently.
The HyDrone
™ RCV allows our survey crews to do just that. The HyDrone is small, lightweight remote control vehicle (RCV) with two plastic pontoons that provide buoyancy and stability. From the dry shoreline, a surveyor can send the HyDrone into a lake, stream, wetland, or any other body of water to record data that a surveyor would otherwise have to capture manually.
The HyDrone may spare surveyors from some physical exertion, but its true benefits far exceed that simple perk. The HyDrone, because of its size, can maneuver far more easily than a boat designed to hold one or two fully grown adults. The HyDrone can move more easily through shallow waters, through brush-filled lagoons, and so on. Its quick deployability allows our surveyors to complete their work more quickly, getting the information into waiting hands that much faster.
Despite what some may initially envision, this HyDrone does not remove the surveyor from the equation. A trained, experienced, and licensed surveyor is present as all times directly controlling the HyDrone, using it as an extension and tool for his own abilities as he would any other piece of surveying equipment. What it does offer that other equipment cannot, however, is a sense of safety. The HyDrone can be and has been used to survey mines, contaminated lakes, and more, and can go into potentially unsafe environments in the place of a person.
See HEI's new HyDrone RCV in action!