This is no joke. It seems that a combination of high tech research and taxpayer dollars are literally reinventing the wheel. Or, at a minimum, allowing wheels to change shape.

    DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center, has come up with an instantly reconfigurable wheel-track. Just as the name implies, it can change from a round wheel to a triangular track at the touch of a button. This would be amazingly practical for military combat vehicles that move from improved road to soft surfaces like sand. The transformation takes only two seconds, and can be done while on the move.

    While it is likely this research will end up on some future military hardware, it would be truly impressive if it one day might become available for civilian off-road use.  Want to see more?  Click here.