The M-TRAN II Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robot looks a lot like an AT-AT (or All-Terrain Armored Transport) from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and the idea of an all-terrain walker is one also applied to the M-TRAN II, albeit with a different approach. The M-TRAN II can reconfigure itself into patterns that make it more stable on different types of terrain. On a flat surface, for example, the 'bot walks on four legs like an elephant. When it approaches a slope that may make it wobble, it rearranges the block modules that compose its body, and transforms into a flopping, flat, snake-like figure.

The M-TRAN II features considerable improvements over the group's first M-TRAN prototype as it's smaller, lighter and faster, and features battery-powered wireless control and stronger computing modules.

Click Continue to check out a video of the M-TRAN II strutting its stuff.

M-TRAN II, via Bot Junkie