Developing an M4 robot that can walk, crawl, and possibly fly.
Robots normally come under only one mode of mobility, either wheels, walking, or even flying.
However, a team of engineers from Caltech's Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies has produced a one-of-a-kind robot with all of these skills. This robot is called M4, as it can alter its posture to adapt to varied terrains.
The team also notes that the M4 robot is not the first robot to travel numerous modes, but it is particularly significant since it employs the same parts for all modes of mobility rather than having additional parts and systems built for each mode of movement individually.
This decreases the robot's weight, size, and cost, as well as enabling it to shift position more readily and fast.
Although the M4 robot initially seems to have four wheels like a tiny car, these wheels are incredibly flexible. The robot can fly by rotating its wheels horizontally in a matter of seconds and turning propellers located inside the wheels.
The robot can lower its height while on the ground by adjusting the angles of its wheels, pass beneath low obstructions, and even crawl over uneven ground where the wheels can't turn.
The M4 robot can also stand on its rear wheel to get around obstacles. In this mode, the robot balances and propels forward or up a steep hill using its two front wheels as propellers.
The AI capabilities allow the M4 robot to maneuver across a variety of terrain without manual control by scanning the road ahead and changing positions on its own.
The majority of trips on the M4 begin with its most functional and energy-efficient mode, the wheel. The robot can pause on its rear wheels to determine a better course if it encounters a narrow obstacle, and can then change position to crawl under the obstacle.
If the robot then hits a stream or other impassable barrier, it will choose to fly over it to the other side before continuing on wheels.
The M4 robot has only been tested on the California Institute of Technology campus; no intentions to commercialize it have been announced.
However, M4 technologies could be used in upcoming space robots because the project is funded in part by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the US National Science Foundation.
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