It's a Bird . . . It's a Plane . . . It's a Flying Robot! By
Marcia Faye Flying over obstacles that life can hurl your way is
an enviable ability of superheroes, extra-terrestrials, and
now—IIT’s rolling and flying robot. Assistant Professor Matthew
Spenko and doctoral student Arash Kalantari of IIT Armour
College of Engineering developed the ’bot, known as the hybrid
terrestrial and aerial quadrotor (HyTAQ), as part of a United
States Navy Office of Naval Research project. The goal of the
project was to create a micro aerial vehicle capable of perching
and moving on vertical surfaces composed of various types of
materials, such as drywall, brick, or glass. The HyTAQ’s
capabilities on land and air coupled with its low weight make
the robot one cool intermediary step toward that end. “Creating
multi-functionality in robots is difficult without adding lots
of different actuators [motors] to the system,” says Spenko from
his Main Campus office, a heap of robot innards on the floor in
front of his desk. “I tasked