Imagine a robot that can fly through the air, then instantly transform midair into a rolling machine that zips across the ground.
That’s exactly what a team of engineers at Caltech has created.
This new robot, called ATMO (short for aerially transforming morphobot), can switch from flying to driving without stopping to land, making it faster, more agile, and better suited for tricky terrain.
Usually, robots that can both fly and drive need to land first before changing into ground mode.
But this landing process can be a big problem, especially if the surface is uneven or full of obstacles. If they get stuck during the switch, they can’t complete their mission.
That’s why ATMO’s ability to transform while still in the air is a major breakthrough.
ATMO uses four jet-like thrusters to lift off and fly. What makes it special is that the covers around the thrusters turn into wheels when it’s ready to drive.
A single motor controls the transformation, rotating the robot’s parts to switch between flying and driving modes smoothly.
The secret behind this real-life Transformer is its smart control system. Transforming midair isn’t easy.
It brings in lots of complicated aerodynamic forces—especially close to the ground, where air from the thrusters bounces off the surface and creates turbulence. These forces can be unstable and hard to predict.
To make sure the robot stays steady, the engineers at Caltech developed an advanced system called model predictive control. This technology constantly predicts how the robot will move in the next few seconds and makes real-time adjustments to keep it stable.
Lead author Ioannis Mandralis, a graduate student in aerospace, said the team looked to nature for inspiration. Birds, for example, use their wings differently when flying and when slowing down to land.
The team wanted to give their robot similar flexibility. But unlike birds, ATMO also had to deal with unpredictable air currents caused by its own thrusters and the shape-changing process.
To understand how the robot behaves, the researchers tested it in Caltech’s drone lab. They ran experiments to measure how its forces change during transformation and used smoke to visualize the swirling air. This helped them fine-tune the robot’s behavior.
According to the researchers, ATMO’s ability to morph midair could be especially useful for tasks like package delivery or exploring areas that are hard to reach.
By skipping the pause between flying and driving, robots like ATMO could one day move more freely through complex environments—just like the flying Transformers of science fiction.
Source: California Institute of Technology.
