Screw-propelled vehicles are nothing new, in fact they've been around for decades. But they never really took off due to the fact they are normally slow, inefficient, and unable to travel over land with out tearing it up. However they did have some advantages over their wheeled or tracked counterparts, the most important of which is the fact they can haul themselves through mud and bogs with relative ease, and when the land ends they can be driven over open water.

A conventional screw-propelled vehicle Tesh-Drive on water

Russian inventor Alexey Burdin has come up with a screw-type propulsion system called 'Tesh-Drive' which features all the benefits of screw-propulsion and less of the negatives, rekindling the hope that screw-propelled vehicles may one day become more popular for traversing difficult swampy terrain.

The name 'Tesh-Drive' was derived from Alexey's nickname for the concept which was 'transformable worms', the reason why he used the term transformable is because the rotating screws can be altered to function on hard ground (including roads), soft wet ground, or water. To accomplish this the Tesh-Drive features a strong inflatable rubber tube which wraps around the screw drive.

When the tubing is inflated it forms a wheeling body enabling the vehicle to travel on hard surfaces at speeds similar to ordinary vehicles. When the Tesh-Drive vehicle is being used on either soft ground or water the air is let out of the tube, therefore allowing the metal ridge of the screw to bite into the earth, or cut through the water, and propel the vehicle forward.

Currently Alexey and his team are developing the Tesh-Drive concept further with the help of a large scale remote-control prototype. They are using the prototype to develop the concept further and understand exactly how the system works and identify any issues or problems.

Alexey's ultimate goal is to produce a perfected Tesh-Drive system and control interface which can be used on everything from remote-control models and autonomous off-road vehicles, to full-size amphibious transport and military vehicles capable of carrying people and cargo over the most inhospitable muddy, swampy terrain.

Obviously due to the complicated nature of the Tesh-Drive concept it's fairly difficult to explain in one short article so here's a couple videos showing the prototype during initial testing. Or if you want the cold hard facts you can head over to the official site at Tesh-lab.com.






Thanks to Alexey for the info and images.