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Harvard researchers develop a new origami-inspired material that changes shape. Borrowing bits from the Hoberman Sphere and the origami-based concept of snapology, where interlocking strips of paper snap together to create rigid structures, Overvelde and his team at Harvard have created what they call a metamaterial: an expandable structure that can be used on its own, or as a building block to create other structures. The attenuated cubes, which have three degrees of articulation, are made of thin polymer sheets that fold flat but can also pop up in a variety of different ways, just like the Hoberman Sphere. By attaching it to a pneumatic hose, a user can inflate a cube to create a bigger 3D structure. Overvelde says the material has numerous applications, from nano-scale stents that can be inserted into arteries and then expanded, to walls, which would fold open and ventilate your house when it gets hot.

“If you have a wing of a butterfly, the structure gives it color. So if you had a device that wants to change color, you could mimic that,” Overvelde says. “On the other side, you think about architectural application. If you made it responsive to heat, you could make a wall of this structure that opens up and breathes. You could make a structure that responds to water, so when it rains, it automatically closes up.”