Photo via Disney Research/ETH Zurich
Photo via Disney Research/ETH Zurich

Drones are so popular they’re starting to get boring. But the technology that keeps drones aloft is helping Disney build a car that climbs walls.

The VertiGo is the result of a collaboration between Disney Research Zurich and ETH, a Swiss university, and uses drone-like propellers to keep the car from falling down as it climbs up walls. The pair of tiltable propellers, which can rotate a full 360 degrees, also provide forward motion for the device.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9P9_QM8cN8

According to the researchers who developed it, the VertiGo “extends the ability of robots to travel through urban and indoor environments.” And while the robotic car doesn’t have any immediate use for Disney, the company has used unique locomotion techniques for killer practical effects in the past, most recently with BB-8 in the latest Star Wars installment.

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