The Center for Distributed Robotics at the University of Minnesota has developed a robot that can transform from a ground moving bot to flight via helicopter blades. This prototype is extremely fragile, and adding the flight capability cost $20,000. The price of advancement is steep. Robotics professor Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos and fellow researcher Alex Kossett originally designed this bot to use the same motor to drive both the wheels and helicopter blades. After several iterations, it came apparent that having two separate motors to drive the different locomotion trains was the easiest option. According to the team, the next version of the bot will not rely on a “non-coaxial system for flight” and will have staunch design. Their work would be the an ideal addition to the military recon robots and the Georgia Tech mapping bots.
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