Transformer drone, with wheels, is able to fly and walk

O California Institute of Technology (Caltech) managed to create a drone "Transform” with wheels, which allow the robot to fly and walk on two or four wheels: the Multi-Modal Mobility Morphobot (multi-modal mobility morphorobot, in free translation), or M4, has rotors that adapt to different activities. Therefore, the M4 it can, for example, stand up or do somersaults.

There are eight types of movement that the drone can perform, giving the possibility to perform different tasks, according to the researchers' scientific article published in the journal Nature Communications. on June 27th. In addition, the M4 manages to choose the best mode for the environments he is in. Other advantages, speeches of the researchers involved in the project and the functions of the morphobot you can see now, at showmetech.

What types of movements can the Transformer drone do?

The Flexibility of the Drone M4 that's what makes him a robot"Transform“, as you see in the video. In addition to being easy to adapt, the robot has artificial intelligence (IA) to decide which mode to operate in: if you are moving on land, can you use four wheels or two; if it observes that there is an obstacle that cannot be passed, it changes its shape and starts to fly; leaning on the rotors, it can do somersaults.

Furthermore, the robot drone can perform more basic movements, such as crawling, crouching, standing still and recognizing the location and even picking up things with the wheels: the video below shows, at 13s, the M4 catching a ball. Whether he will become a goalkeeper, only time will tell. If it walks, the drone drives its rotors upwards (check the gif) to maintain stability, keeping the bottom wheels moving, which then bend, more or less like knees.

What are the features of the M4 drone? Discover applications

The makers of the project M4 claim that the drone can help in various activities. If there is a need to go through some terrain that is interrupted, the drone can pass without much difficulty. The flight also goes through adaptations in the route, being able to follow a route in which it needs to get off at some point.

Having a flying morphobot for these and other activities also requires knowing its characteristics. It has 6kg in all, considering all the components and two of its “legs” have “joints”. But all four have one characteristic in common: they have curved propellers, which help to glide in a simple way.

Whether flying, walking, doing somersaults, or even picking things up with the wheels, the achievers behind the multi-modal drone indicate that rescue operations can be made easier with technology. Space exploration, delivering packages to homes, digital architecture are other types of possible applications for the drone. Transform.

How researchers developed the morphobot that walks and flies

participated in the research that resulted in the M4 different scientists from different areas. For the drone to be built, both scholars of Caltech as from other educational institutions were involved: Alireza Ramezani, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Mory Gharib, professor of aeronautics and bioinspired engineering — who develops technologies based on organisms — are members of the Northeastern University.

Regarding the technical part, the Caltech made an essential contribution. From there, the aerospace researcher, Eric Sihite; the engineer and designer Reza Nemovi do Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST; Center for Technologies and Autonomous Systems Caltech); and Arash Kalantari do Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL; Jet Propulsion Laboratory), created in partnership between the institute in California (USA) and the NASA.

To arrive at the format that it has in the video and animations of this article, several drafts were thought of. Some were inspired by meerkats standing upright, while others tried to imitate walruses and sea lions, seeing their swimming movement and leaning on different surfaces to move. Just as they were focusing on the drone flight, gharib and colleagues thought about the movement of the bird chukar partridge, which inhabits regions of the Middle East and parts of Asia.

“Our goal was to break the boundaries of locomotion by designing a system that demonstrates extraordinary mobility capability with a wide range of movement modes. The M4 project was successful in achieving these goals.”

Alireza Ramezani, researcher at Northeast University.

The work published in Nature Communications. contains a series of refined and technical explanations about the M4, showing examples of tests and videos with the drone in action. The publication even shows how the morforobô is useful in monitoring regions, performing movements almost like a skater, as in the image above. Thus, the researchers point out that the possibilities are many, but the drone can still undergo adjustments, as energy use varies greatly between types of movement.

Would you pay to have the drone M4 at home? What would you do with it? Tell us in the comments of showmetech!

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Source: The Verge | Nature | Caltech | Tech Explorer | The American Ceramic Society

reviewed by Glaucon Vital in 3 / 7 / 23.