Hello guys,
I’m currently doing a master’s at Osaka University and I have to come with a project.
So my idea is to use Poppy with some modifications, I want to add wheels on the ankles and the hands (with motors) and a mechanism that deploys/rectract the wheels.
The goal is to work on hybrid robots that have the characteristics of both humanoid and mobile robots! i.e. in humanoid mode it has the advantages of humanoids (ability to walk, open doors, climb ladders or drive cars, in the case of advanced robots like Asimo or HRP4 not Poppy 
)
But when it has to travel a long distance or on rough terrain, it goes on 4 limbs (like a dog) and uses the wheels. The arms and legs can also be used as shock-absorbers or to adapt to the terrain.
So please tell me what you think about the idea? is there any similar robot existing? is Poppy the right platform to implement this?
Thanks
Woo Osaka is a very famous university for Robotics research! In particular there is maybe the world best developmental robotic laboratory headed by Minoru Asada.
Your idea is so good it has already been explored with one of the robot doing the Darpa Challenge, it is CHIMP made by the (also) very famous CMU:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/cmu-chimp-humanoid-robot-moves-like-a-tank
Poppy being the only open source robotic platform which hardware is made to be deeply modified, I guess it is the best platform to explore this question ^^
BTW you can use Dynamixel MX12W for the wheel.
http://www.braverobotics.com/index_en.html
These guys also made something like that, though the servos are Kondo and the size is smaller.
In any case, the idea is great and the world needs more multi-modal robots!
Thank you for the replies guys!
Yeah Xevel I saw the transformer it’s very cool! The most similar one to what I am thinking is the CHIMP one, but I think it can only move on wheels, even when it’s standing it doesn’t seem to be able to have bipedal walking? Maybe this is a new addition?