Origami-inspired ‘Transformer bots’ could revolutionize space travel

The versatile robots could transform space travel, say scientists.

Taking inspiration from the ancient Japanese art of paper-folding, American engineers discovered a way to make a single plastic cubed structure transform into more than 1,000 configurations - using just three active motors.

They say their findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, could pave the way for shape-shifting artificial systems that can take on multiple functions and even carry a load, such as versatile robotic structures used in space.

Corresponding author Professor Jie Yin said: “The question we’re asking is how to achieve a number of versatile shapes with the fewest number of actuators powering the shapeshifting.

“Here we use a hierarchical concept observed in nature – like layered muscle fibers – but with plastic cubes to create a transforming robot.”

The North Carolina State University research team put together hollow, plastic cubes using a 3D printer.

They assembled 36 of them together with rotating hinges; some hinges were fixed with metal pins, while others were activated wirelessly with a motor.

The team was able to move the cubes into more than 1,000 shapes using only three active motors.

The shapes included tunnel-like structures, bridge-like structures and even multi-story architectures.

The untethered transformer bots can move forward, backward and sideways – without feet – merely by controlling the ways the structure’s shape changes.

The bots can also transform relatively quickly from flat, or fully open, to a box-like larger cube, or fully closed.

The bots also can carry a load about three times their own weight, according to the research team.

And they are attempting to make the transformer bots even better.

Co-author Dr. Yanbin Li said: “We want to make a more robust structure that can bear larger loads.

“If we want a car shape, for example, how do we design the first structure that can transform into a car shape?

"We also want to test our structures with real-world applications like space robots.”

Co-first author Dr. Antonio Di Lallo said: “We think these can be used as deployable, configurable space robots and habitats.

“It’s modular, so you can send it to space flat and assemble it as a shelter or as a habitat, and then disassemble it.”

Yin added: “For users, it needs to be easy to assemble and to control."