Thrusters may provide propulsion in any direction and can “roll” around the limb.

Meet the University of Tokyo’s SPIDAR, the backronym of “SpherIcally vectorable and Distributed rotors assisted Air-ground amphibious quadruped Robot,” with multimodal locomotion capability.

How does it work?

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Moju Zhao.

The 33-pound robot SPIDAR employs servos on its movable limbs that are lightweight but insufficiently powerful to allow it to stand by itself. This keeps it light enough to fly without a jet engine, but it also means that the spider must maintain a continual bounce to maintain its upright position.