Today’s robots walk, swim, fly, and manipulate objects on the go—and they’re just getting started | Science

When you think of a robot, you likely picture one of three things: a drone, a robotic manipulator picking up goods from a factory conveyor belt, or an autonomous vehicle of some kind—perhaps a vacuum cleaner or a car. These three types of robots differ drastically in their body design and in the ways they move. They are also consistent with how roboticists have traditionally designed robots for one specific type of locomotion. However, recent advances in control systems have enabled the design of robots capable of transitioning between multiple forms of locomotion, for example, from rolling to walking and from flying to sliding like a snake. Better still, some can use legs as hands or adjust their flight patterns in order to manipulate objects as they move. This progress represents a major advancement in the field and it is worth diving deeper into the many challenges that had to be overcome along the way in order for such robots to be realized.