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It might not be called Optimus Prime, but this is as close as we've seen to a shape-shifting robot. The military design -- christened the Multi-Modal Vehicle Concept -- has been designed by Lockheed subsidiary Sandia to drive, swim and fly. In effect, it's a Transformer.
It flies similarly to any other unmanned drone, then dives underwater where it sheds its main wings and converts to flipper-fins at the tail. On reaching the ocean floor, a set of drive wheels is uncased and it trundles along to emerge onto land. According to Wired, it can even jump up to 10 metres in the air.
The Multi-Modal Vehicle could potentially be controlled by one person to conduct a sortie over a range of terrain, and Sandia says its shape-shifting skills would allow it to transform if faced with changing challenges during the mission.
However, since the video shows it sheds its wings -- and then the wheel casings -- this leaves it with only the wheels to get around. And to get back home, meaning any missions would be one-way. Sandia says it has started testing some prototype hardware, but a functioning test vehicle is yet to be funded.
Watch the Multi-Modal Vehicle Concept video on our desktop site here.
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