See a Robot: Roll, Crawl, Stand, & Fly!

Many animals have various ways to move around. For example, turtles can crawl on land and swim well in water. Some birds use their wings for balancing or climbing, not flying,” explains Morteza Gharib from the California Institute of Technology.

Gharib and his team got inspired by animals and made a robot that can do many things. They called it the Multi-Modal Mobility Morphobot, or M4 for short. It has four parts that can turn into wheels, thrusters, legs, and hands.

By changing how it moves, the robot can do eight different things: fly, roll, crawl, crouch, balance, tumble, scout, and pick up objects.

In scouting mode, which is like how meerkats stand up on their hind legs, the robot can stand up to see better.