A team of researchers from The Ohio State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology has extended the possibility of origami, the ancient art of paper folding, for modern engineering applications such as untethered robotics and morphing devices.
The researchers demonstrated for the first time a multifunctional, magnetically responsive origami system, possessing distributed, untethered control capabilities. The untethered magnetic actuation separates the power source and controller out of the system, allowing scalable applications.
There is much interest in the possible use of origami-inspired metamaterials for engineering applications, due to their precisely architected structures that exhibit unconventional behavior. In practice, however, these structures are unlikely to exist without defects and imperfections.
The simplicity and elegance of origami, an ancient Japanese art form, has motivated researchers to explore its application in the world of materials. New research from an interdisciplinary team, including Northwestern University’s Horacio Espinosa and Sridhar Krishnaswamy and the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Glaucio Paulino, aims to advance the creation and understanding of such folded structures for applications ranging from soft robotics to medical devices to energy harvesters.
While perhaps not as iconic as the paper crane, the hypar origami with its sweeping opposing arcs and saddle shape has long been popular for artists working in the paper folding tradition.
Now researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Tokyo are looking at the shape with an eye toward leveraging its structural properties, hoping to find ways to harness its bistability to build multifunctional devices or metamaterials.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created a new type of origami that can morph from one pattern into a different one, or even a hybrid of two patterns, instantly altering many of its structural characteristics.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have devised a method for using an origami-based structure to create radio frequency filters that have adjustable dimensions, enabling the devices to change which signals they block throughout a large range of frequencies.
By merging the ancient art of origami with 21st century technology, researchers have created a one-step approach to fabricating complex origami structures whose light weight, expandability, and strength could have applications in everything from biomedical devices to equipment used in space exploration. Until now, making such structures has involved multiple steps, more than one material, and assembly from smaller parts.
Want to get all that toothpaste out of the tube? How about provide shelter for homeless people or disaster victims? Glaucio Paulino's Origami Engineering class presented their interdisciplinary final projects using origami engineeering for social good in the Mason Building lobby Dec. 14.
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Mason Building, 790 Atlantic Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332-0355
Phone: 404-894-2201
Fax: 404-894-2278