An Interactive Mobile Amphibious Probing and Surveillance System

Ecological studies of shallow water and wetland habitats are often hindered by difficulty accessing remote sites. Current methods of data acquisition, are either lack of the flexibility that is critical to characterizing conditions or organisms in dynamic habitats (such as physical sampling, mounting sensors in the field), or too big and expensive to work in shallow water or wetland habitats (such as remotely operated vehicles, and autonomous underwater vehicles). This paper presents an original robotic design to cover shallow-water and difficult terrain with amphibious capabilities and a self-adjustable sensor holder with camera for enhanced underwater testing, called interactive mobile amphibious probing and surveillance system. Experimental results show that the system is highly efficient and is ready to perform many demanding tasks in various water and weather conditions.