The platform drives. What it does once it gets there is decided by the payload on the load plate — connected through a single interface for power, data and control. Modules that change the platform itself instead are under extensions.
An unmanned vehicle without a superstructure is a means of transport without a purpose. The commercial core of the PALLAS range therefore lies not in the platform alone, but in the fact that the same platform carries a water monitor, a sensor package or a manipulator depending on the situation — and that the change happens at the site, not in the workshop.
On the PALLAS.75, the payload platform sits on four Kipp quarter-turn latches and can therefore be changed on site — without bolting anything by hand.
From PALLAS.150 upwards, the mechanical fastening is not yet defined. What is defined so far is the payload dimension in pallet format; the fastening system for it is being developed together with the first customers of those sizes. Anyone joining early helps set the standard rather than inheriting it — and we would rather say so than claim a finished standard that does not yet exist.
Independently of that, power supply, data connection, training and operating logic stay the same across the whole range.
From PALLAS.150 upwards the payloads are defined in the dimensions of a European standard pallet: 800 × 1,200 mm, divisible into smaller modules on the same grid. That is not a design flourish but a procurement decision — a payload in pallet format can be moved with existing handling equipment, placed on standard racking, loaded into a container and set down in any store, without anyone having to build special fixtures for it.
These are the payloads we supply for the load plate. Which one suits your situation, and how it is specified, we settle against the actual deployment scenario.
Remotely operated monitor with variable reach, fed through a standard Storz coupling. Stream pattern and direction are controlled from the control station while the platform holds its position.
Calibrated thermography for seeing through smoke, locating hot spots and monitoring temperatures on plant components. Live image and readings go to the control station.
Daylight camera with optical zoom and switchable lighting for reconnaissance in darkness. Pans and tilts independently of the platform’s direction of travel.
Multi-channel sensors for oxygen, methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, carbon monoxide and combustible gases — the readings needed when gas testing shafts and vessels, before anyone enters a zone.
Sensors for detecting chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive hazards, combined with a manipulator for sampling and for recovering or securing objects. The platform works through the zone and hands over a georeferenced picture of the contamination before responders enter it.
Laser scanner for autonomous navigation, obstacle detection and mapping. It also supplies the data basis for surveying and as-built documentation.
Collaborative robot arm on the payload plate — for opening valves and doors, placing sensors or recovering objects from a hazard zone.
Structure for carrying material, equipment or spare batteries — for resupplying a zone that responders should not have to enter repeatedly.
Where no catalogue payload fits, we design the structure. The payload interface is documented, so your own engineering team or a third party can build on it as well.
Payloads are operated through the same interface as driving. An operator who can handle the platform does not have to learn a second system for a new payload.