CSAIL’s Shape Shifting Robot Walls, Rolls, Glides

Meet the Primer robot: a cube-shaped robot that can be controlled via magnets to walk roll, sail, and glide. It comes with origami exoskeletons to carry out various tasks. After the task is done, Primer can shed its skin by immersing itself in water.

Primer can wear multiple outfits at once. As the researchers explains:

It can add one exoskeleton to become “Walk-bot,” and then interface with another, larger exoskeleton that allows it to carry objects and move two body lengths per second. To deploy the second exoskeleton, “Walk-bot” steps onto the sheet, which then blankets the bot with its four self-folding arms.

The team plans to give robots even more capabilities to let it move through water or sand.

[HT]