The California Institute of Technology has developed a Multi-Modal Mobility Morphobot (M4) transforming robot the size of an RC model that can change shape and move. When the environment requires it, he can drive, fly or “walk”.
Image Source: Nature
The robot is assembled by specialists from electronic components, motors and a small computer that decides what form the M4 should take at one time or another. A team of technical experts equipped the robot with wheels that can turn into a kind of quadcopter rotors in seconds.
According to a publication in the journal Nature, the robot can stand on two wheels to “walk”, while the other two in this case again work as rotors, keeping the structure upright – for example, it can better see what is ahead or overcome difficult terrain, which will be problematic to move on four wheels.
Image Source: Nature
It is reported that when developing the robot, scientists were inspired by samples from the animal world – for example, meerkats and walruses. As reported in the publication, the model is built on the Jetson Nano platform, an affordable miniature version of NVIDIA’s computer designed for robotics.
The M4 can perform “eight different types of movements,” and a Caltech press release says the AI system allows it to make autonomous decisions based on environmental conditions. According to the developers, in the future the robot can be used, for example, to deliver the wounded to hospitals or to explore other planets.
