Shape-shifting

ANYmal is a truly remarkable robot, capable of standing and lifting things like a humanoid, or slinking around on all fours like a quadruped, with or without wheels. But what's really surprised us now is the eerie grace it's starting to move with.

Two wheels, a motor, a seat, some handlebars and some footrests: put 'em in one arrangement, and you've got a sportsbike. In another, a cruiser. Or an adventure machine. Or a commuter. Why not a single, shape-shifting architecture that does it all?

Researchers have created a low-cost fiber that contracts in response to heat, resuming its shape when the heat is removed. Compatible with existing textile-producing machinery, the shape-shifting fiber could have a myriad of uses.

Researchers have created a new class of robots that can shift between solid and liquid forms on demand. In a series of tests, these new bots could change shape to run obstacle courses, carry objects, or even escape from a jail cell like a Terminator.

Everyone who's driven laps around a packed parking area has had the thought at least once: Why can't my car shrink down to squeeze into a tiny space? Finally, it can – at least if your car is the all-new Israeli-designed City Transformer.

A retractable hard-top is standard fare, but how about a retractable body shell? That's what Audi explores with the new Skysphere concept, an e-roadster that transitions between autonomous touring and hard-nosed sports driving by adjusting in length.

"A racer partly driven like a car and partly flown like a fighter jet" – that's how Lotus describes the new E-R9. The futuristic Le Mans design study debuts as a sleek, aircraft-inspired race car with electric drive and fast-morphing body panels.

Ever wonder what Bugatti's quad-turbo W16 could do if decoupled from heavy, bulbous cars like the Chiron? Bugatti has, too, and it answers with the Bolide, an ultralight 1,825-hp hypercar parked at the bleeding edge of automotive possibility.

Although we have seen "morphing" structural materials before, they typically incorporate solenoids, pumps or motors. Now, however, scientists have developed a carbon fiber composite that shifts shape with a simple shot of electricity.

Scientists in Australia have developed a jelly-like material with many of the properties of living tissue. A form of a hydrogel, it is self-healing, very strong and can change its shape – allowing it to mimic skin, ligaments, and bone.

A helmet designed for maximum ventilation won’t be the best in terms of aerodynamics, but an Australian researcher is working on a dynamic version that could offer cyclists both, by changing shape at different stages of a race.

The Shapeshifter concept is made up of a number of smaller robots, which can self-assemble into a larger machine and disassemble again as the mission calls for it.