Researchers report an origami-based system for constructing environmentally responsive soft robots without the rigid structure of conventional electronics. Robots are characterized by their ability to make decisions based on environmental stimuli. Such decisions are typically made in a central processing unit (CPU) using conventional digital logic. However, robots with a soft or flexible structure are constrained by the rigid nature of CPU electronics. Richard Vaia and colleagues constructed a soft robot made of a sheet of polypropylene folded into an origami waterbomb base. Along the vertices and folds of the origami base, the authors deposited a polymer that expands or contracts depending on relative humidity. The polymer served as an actuator, changing the shape of the robot depending on the environmental humidity. Thus, the robot was able to transform an environmental signal, namely humidity, into a mechanical signal. Further, as the origami base has two primary shapes, shape can serve as a binary signal. Joining several of these units enables them to share information, construct basic Boolean logic operations, and engage in locomotion. According to the authors, the logic employed by the environmentally sensitive actuators portends the development of soft robots that possess the environmental responsiveness of rigid robots without the mechanical constraints of conventional electronics.
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Article #18-05122: "Origami mechanologic," by Benjamin Treml, Andrew Gillman, Philip Buskohl, and Richard Vaia.
MEDIA CONTACT: Richard Vaia, U.S. Air Force Materials and Manufacturing Corporate Communications Office, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH; tel: 937-255-0017; e-mail: AFRL.RX.CorpComm@us.af.mil
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences