Multimodal locomotion capability is an emerging topic in robotics field, and various novel mobile robots have been developed to enable the maneuvering in both terrestrial and aerial domains. Among these hybrid robots, several state-of-the-art bipedal \robots enable the complex walking motion which is interlaced with flying. These robots are also desired to have the manipulation ability; however, it is difficult for the current forms to keep stability with the joint motion in midair due to the central\ized rotor arrangement. Therefore, in this work, we develop a novel air-ground amphibious quadruped robot called SPIDAR which is assisted by spherically vectorable rotors distributed in each link to enable both walking motion and transformable flight. F\irst, we present a unique mechanical design for quadruped robot that enables terrestrial and aerial locomotion. We then reveal the modeling method for this hybrid robot platform, and further develop an integrated control strategy for both walking and fl\ying with joint motion. Finally, we demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed hybrid quadruped robot by performing a seamless motion that involves static walking and subsequent flight. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first to achieve a \quadruped robot with multimodal locomotion capability, which also shows the potential of manipulation in multiple domains.

The image you see above was taken just moments before NASA's Perseverance rover successfully landed on the surface of Mars, and it's just the first of many high-resolution photos to come. NASA pulled the image from a video of the rover's descent that is in the process of being transmitted to Earth. "This shot from a camera on my'jetpack' captures me in midair, just before my wheels touched down," the rover's official Twitter account said. NASA's Curiosity rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught Perseverance's trip to the surface as well. Every picture tells a story.

Nope, it's a crazy flying robot that can transform to squeeze through tiny spaces. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Nope, it's a crazy flying robot that can transform to squeeze through tiny spaces.

We introduce ModQuad, a novel flying modular robotic structure that is able to self-assemble in midair and cooperatively fly. The structure is composed by agile flying modules that can easily move in a three dimensional environment. The module is based on a quadrotor platform within a cuboid frame which allows it to attach to other modules by matching vertical faces. Using this mechanism, a ModQuad swarm is able to rapidly assemble flying structures in midair using the robot bodies as building units.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a series of modular flying robots that can autonomously assemble themselves in midair and fly. In the video above, the robots can be seen hovering near one another and then slowly moving close until magnets attached to each corner of a vehicle's cage quickly snaps them together. The system, called ModQuad, is just in its early stage of development, but the researchers say they can imagine scenarios where much larger drone systems with such autonomous capability might actually be able to self-assemble over an impassable chasm and create a bridge, for example. The system is modeled after biological systems like ant or bee colonies, where collective effort can accomplish goals like transporting material or building large structures. Think of army ants that can build bridges to overcome water hazards.

Boeing recently offered a first glimpse of its newest military aircraft, a large, stingray-shaped drone it hopes will win an intense Navy competition to build an uncrewed aircraft capable of landing on an aircraft carrier. Drones have been a vital part of the Pentagon's arsenal for years, but the competition for a Navy carrier-based version that can refuel jet fighters in the midair would mark a significant advancement in the technology -- and become another sign how the military is increasingly integrating robots into the way it fights. In addition to Boeing, two of the Pentagon's top suppliers, General Atomics and Lockheed Martin, are also vying for a contract to build as many as 76 of the vehicles that would become operational in the mid 2020s. Bids are due Jan. 3, setting the stage for a high-stakes competition in 2018. Though the Navy has not yet released the value of the contract, an earlier incarnation of the effort--in which the drones would both serve as refueling aircraft and have attack capabilities -- would have been worth $3 billion through 2022.

It's one of the most iconic scenes in all of science fiction: In the original Star Wars, the droid R2-D2 projects a 3-D image onto a tabletop. Princess Leia, projected as a tiny hologram, desperately asks the semi-retired Jedi master Ben Kenobi for assistance: "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Still brings the chills, doesn't it? The free-standing 3-D hologram has been a staple of science fiction for decades. But like the phaser and the flying car, it's one of those sci-fi dreams that has yet to become reality. We're getting awfully close, though. Earlier this summer, researchers at the University of Rochester unveiled the latest projection system to approximate Princess Leia's immortal plea. Dubbed the Illumyn 3-D Display, the system uses laser projection to generate actual 3-D holograms in midair -- no projection surface, no virtual reality goggles, no 3-D glasses, no augmented reality tricks. There is a catch, however: Holograms projected by the Illumyn system are contained within a glass sphere filled with heated Cesium vapor, an elemental metal that's particularly good at emitting light. The Illumyn system works by crossing two laser beams -- invisible to the human eye -- at a specific point within the sphere. When the crossed beams hit the cesium vapor, various atomic-scale shenanigans produce a sky-blue light that is emitted outward in all directions. The crossed beams only produce a single point of light, but by moving the laser coordinates around at incredible speed, the Illumyn sphere can essentially draw 3-D objects in thin air -- well, thin cesium vapors. The image never actually exists at any one time, but the system fires up each dot so fast that the human eye sees the programmed image. The process is actually a kind of high-tech update on the old cathode-ray tube television, says Curtis Broadbent, research associate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester and co-developer of the Illumyn system. "CRT televisions used a raster-scan technology," Broadbent says. "The electron gun sends a stream of electrons to the fluorescent screen and the beam of electrons are deflected to sequentially hit every pixel on the fluorescent screen.

The U.S. military is developing a fairy-tale-inspired "Gremlin" program that aims to launch and retrieve drones in midair. "Gremlins" are a swarm of drones that can be deployed from a manned aircraft, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. military charged with developing new and innovative technologies for the nation's war fighters. The Gremlin program will allow aircraft pilots to launch the drones as needed, and call them back to the transport plane while both are still in flight. DARPA announced the Gremlin concept in 2015, when the agency called for proof-of-concept designs for the first phase of the project. Now, DARPA is moving on to the second phase, which will see the continued development of two ideas, according to Scott Wierzbanowski, DARPA program manager.