DALER Drone Can Fly and Walk

Jan-27-15 Inspired by the vampire bat, the DALER drone can use its wings to both fly and walk—a skill that could prove useful in search and rescue missions.

Still in the prototype stage, the DALER (Deployable Air-Land Exploration Robot) features wings made of a foldable skeleton wrapped in a flexible fabric. Because the large surface area of wings is one of the main issues when creating a walking/flying robot, the team designed a foldable actuator that lets the wings (whegs) rotate and fold into a smaller space. Although the bot looks a bit clumsy on land, the DALER is able to travel 2.5 in/s on foot and 45 mph in the air.

More Info about this Invention:

[GIZMAG.COM]
[ACTU.EPFL.CH]

---