Researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed an air-ground amphibious quadruped robot called SPIDAR, which is an acronym for spherIcally vectorable and distributed rotors-assisted air-ground amphibious quadruped robot. The aim of this robot is to enhance and rise in the field of robotics regarding robots with multimodal locomotion capabilities.
There are many capabilities that SPIDAR has as of its current version, which it can essentially move through different varieties of terrains. Each limb of SPIDAR also has its own unique capabilities as each limb has an attached spherically vectorable dual thruster that allows it to move airborne in any direction. In addition, SPIDAR also has the ability to transition from static walking to flight. Presently, SPIDAR is still at its prototype version but the future processes and improvement that this robot can go further is still very much attainable.
Image Credit: University of Tokyo
