Reprogrammable soft origami robots

What is it about?

We have created a plug- and- play soft modular origami robot, enabled by electrothermal actuation with highly bendable heaters. Our modular origami robot draws inspiration from the segmented caterpillar body. By mimicking the rich kinematics of caterpillar segments, each robot module features reprogrammable actuation modes, i.e., extension/contraction and bending. The desired deformation modes of the modular units, bidirectional and/or steering, can be achieved on the fly. This work reports an effective actuation method that can be generally applied to other origami structures.

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Why is it important?

Biomimicry can inform engineering solutions. For instance, inspired by the locomotion of the caterpillar, we have designed, fabricated, and characterized a multimodal (Kresling) origami unit with two soft electrothermal actuators, which can be directly integrated with a structural assembly. The assemblies can be tailored to the desired robotic function to be performed.

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