Employees of the California Institute of Technology have posted a video showcasing the capabilities of their prototype robot called the M4. The description points out that only select capabilities were demonstrated in the video. All in all, the M4 utilizes eight ground principles to find its way around on the ground and in the air.
‘M4’ stands for ‘Multi-Modal Mobility Morphobot’. It is a transformer bot capable of reconfiguring itself on the go. It actually only relies on rotors for movements, but this is enough to let the M4 adapt to a variety of scenarios.
The main mode of transportation is ordinary driving. When the bot rides on a surface, it uses its propellers with rigid rims as wheels. When needed, it switches to walking by putting one wheel before another. It can also stand on two rear wheels using the front propellers for balance. For example, it can stand up to peek over an obstacle and analyze the path ahead. Last but not least, the M4 can align all the rotors horizontally and transform into a traditional quadcopter.