Are Transformers Real?

Autobots, roll out! Everyone loves watching giant robots transform into cars or jets in the movies. But is that real?

In real life, we don’t have 50-foot tall alien robots. But we DO have machines that transform! NASA engineers design space rovers that fold up into a tiny box to fit inside a rocket. Once they land on Mars, they unfold their wheels, camera masts, and solar panels like a giant mechanical origami flower.

In FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC), high school students often build real transforming robots that must fold down to fit under low barriers, and then stretch high up to score points!