We’ve seen drones that are able to become food servers as well as fly a fresh pizza pie to residents in the past, but we haven’t seen a drone quite like the one featured in this story. Let’s just say this drone is pretty much as close to a Transformer as we’re going to get.
The Sandia National Laboratory’s Intelligent Systems, Robotics and Cybernetics unit is in the process of developing a drone that is capable of travel by way of land, air and sea. The multi-environmental vehicle is currently in its “mature concept” stage and is awaiting funding for a prototype to be built. The lab’s unit gives a scenario for the drone that has it able to fly through the air, dive into the ocean to then transform itself into an underwater vessel to then maneuver itself onto dry land to be drivable. If that’s not a Transformer, then I don’t know what is.
“The real value added [of the Multi-Modal Vehicle] is that it allows maximum flexibility in highly complex missions without the concern over whether or not all of the vehicles are positioned just right,” engineer Jon Salton told Wired. “It should be at least be able to substantially enhance the capabilities of Special Ops.”
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