University of Chicago researchers assembled active units into a rounded “odd” solid whose internal forces do not behave like those in an ordinary passive material. On level ground, the object could roll. When it met an incline, coordinated changes within the structure let it adopt a crawling motion better suited to climbing.

The movement emerged from many driven components interacting through the material. Energy was supplied locally, and the shape transmitted those forces in ways that could be switched or reorganized. Instead of attaching a separate motor, transmission, and rigid shell, the researchers made the material itself produce and redirect motion. The ball was body and mechanism at once.

“Adaptive” does not mean the object thought about the hill. These were engineered prototypes operating under designed rules and controls, not living or brainy matter. The useful result is a physical one: a solid can be built so its collective dynamics support more than one mode of locomotion. When rolling stopped being enough, the material had another move available.