Tiny Robots Helped by the Principles of Origami

Tiny robots’ capabilities can be greatly expanded by applying the dynamics of the Japanese art of origami. Here’s more from researchers at University of Michigan via SlashGear:

Evgueni Filipov, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Michigan said that the team has “come up with a new way to design, fabricate, and actuate microbots.” He says the team is the first to bring advanced ergonomic building capabilities into one integrated microbot system. The robots designed by the team can form one shape, complete a task, and then change to a second shape for an additional task, and so on.

So far, microbots have had limited movement impacting their ability to perform useful tasks. The researchers increase the range of motion by allowing the robots to fold large angles. The robots can fold at up to 90-degrees or more. The larger the folds, the more complex shapes robots can take.

See and learn more!