This Is In The

'what a neat idea' department,

a round normal looking wheel that we all use for normal and high speeds, that can magically change to a track for when the going gets tough, like snow or mud, the clip above shows a shape-shifting wheel created by DARPA and Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Centre, the Reconfigurable Wheel-Track mechanism can transition from a round wheel to a triangular track in two seconds, this allows vehicles to have enhanced mobility and manoeuvrability, and faster travel on a range of terrains, when in its round form the wheel allows vehicles to travel quickly on hard terrain, while the tracks perform better on soft surfaces, by lowering the vehicle's ground pressure, launched as part of the US government's Ground X-Vehicle Technologies programme run by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Reconfigurable Wheel-Track system was designed to improve the mobility and effectiveness of combat vehicles,and what a great spin off of technology for thoses living where spring and autumn predictions of road conditions is not an exact science, snow chains, a thing of the past!