Miniature Origami Robot

Miniature origami robot can swim, climb an incline, traverse rough terrain, and carry a load twice its weight

The MIT researchers' centimeter-long origami robot

Christine Daniloff/MIT

     A miniature robot that can self-fold, walk, swim, and degrade, which is only 1.7 cm long and weighing only one third of a gram has been developed by the engineers of MIT. The miniature origami robot can swim, climb an incline, traverse rough terrain, and carry a load twice its weight.The robot body is a self-folding plastic sheet with a permanent magnet affixed to its back. Its motions are controlled by external magnetic fields. After completing its task, drive it into a tank of acetone and it’ll dissolve, completing its life cycle. Motion of the robot using non-moving parts seems promising for miniature robot engineering.

     

Image: MIT

 

     The prototype of self-folding sheets had three layers. The middle layer is made up of polyvinyl chloride(PVC) which contracts when heated. In the acetone-soluble prototype, the outer layers were polystyrene.Slits cut into the outer layers by a laser cutter guide the folding process. If two slits on opposite sides of the sheet are of different widths, then when the middle layer contracts, it forces the narrower slit’s edges together, and the sheet bends in the opposite direction. In their experiments, the researchers found that the sheet would begin folding at about 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

Image: MIT

In their experiments, the robot is positioned on a rectangular stage with an electromagnet at each of its four corners.The motion of the robot is controlled by varying the magnetic fields of these magnets. They were able to vary the strength of the electromagnets’ fields rapidly enough that the robot could move nearly four body lengths a second.

Source: MIT News