DALER: Vampire-Inspired Robot Can Fly And Walk

This robot can crawl around on all fours – and it can fly. If you're terrified at the possibility that the future will be run by a robot race that's far superior to humankind thanks to their ability to both walk and fly, turn back now. What we're seeing here is the future of transformer-like technology, bringing LIS, EPFL, and NCCR Robotics together to bring home the gold with a winged metal creature that can crawl. This is DALER, otherwise known as the Deployable Air-Land Exploration Robot, and it's been inspired by a vampire bat.

The crews at LIS, EPFL, and NCCR Robotics have suggested that this robot was inspired by Desmodus rotundus, also known as the common vampire bat. What you'll see here is the robot's foldable, shockproof wings, and it's ability to move along the ground in a manner not unlike the bat.

This robot doesn't exactly land like a bat, and it doesn't hang upside-down like a bat – but that's not what the group has been trying to accomplish.

Instead, this robot takes on the foldable skeletal bits of the bat, using soft fabric covering to further emulate the important parts of its anatomy – here allowing it to take flight and remain relatively light.

DALER is able to reach 20m/s in the air and 6cm/s crawling on the ground or the floor. It's not exactly meant to win any races – but it may someday take part in natural disaster rescue missions.

The group that's developing this robot suggests that their next aim is making the robot able to hover and take off on its own – right now it needs a bit of a push.

VIA: EPFL