THE Article
The bot I read about is called Ninja Star, so named for the way it's legs look when rotating. It is RHex-type legged bot, uses flexible legs with one motor per leg to facilitate movement. In addition to being able to walk relatively well the robotics at McGill University have figured out a way to make their bot also capable of swimming. This is accomplished by the design of the legs. Normally the legs of a bot using this type of locomotion would be flexible and be shaped like a half circle. This design forgoes the traditional idea in favor of wheels with a flipper of sorts contained within. This allows the bot to both walk and swim.
Future implications
Currently this type of locomotion is still being experimented with by various universities. However, there are possible applications for scouting in collapsed buildings for search and rescue. The implementation of the ability to swim also gives this bot future applications with underwater operations, although this would require further improvements upon the current design before such endeavors would be feasible.