#origamirobot

Inventor Topic: ORIGAMI ROBOTS!

Probably yesterday’s paper but damn if this doesn’t light me up like a Geiger counter in a radiation pocket every time I read about it! For those of you who don’t know, a coined ‘origami robot’ is a small robot that has the ability to self-fold, and it’s body style and small nature is inspired by–you guessed it–the art of origami. Not only is it the smallest robot I’ve had the absolute delight of discovering, but it’s the only robot to date that can build itself, complete basic tasks, and then break apart when put in water (implying as well that it’s the only robot to have a life cycle from ‘birth’ to ‘death’). It’s pieces are then reusable/can be recycled for the future. It recognizes obstacles and can traverse them; it has an exoskeleton that can easily shape itself with the use of heat to adapt to it’s environment or task; and they’re also pretty damn cute!!! There’s already been an ingestible, capsuled origami robot composed of organic materials (dried pig intestines, similar to sausage casings) and magnets designed as a hopeful alternative to invasive and expensive surgery. It’s described as being able to treat internal wounds along the digestive tract, remove swallowed/otherwise foreign objects from the body, and dispense medicine all while being magnetically controlled outside of the body and without a single cut being made to the patient. Not only is this a huge leap in the medicine and science industries, but the fusing of organic materials with robotics is something that should be further explored (in my opinion). Other origami/soft robots include ‘muscle robots’ that can lift up to 1,000x it’s own weight, with a flexible muscle inspired body composed of an outer skin of textile/plastic and is given strength by air or water pressure, giving it the ability to grip, twist, lift (etc.) many objects put in front of it (up to a reasonable weight) while remaining completely gentle to said object! These origami robots also don’t need battery power or an energy source to run because they’re controlled by magnetic fields! One day, these robots could be qualified to run medical/surgical procedures, work in factories/warehouses, be utilized in construction, and explore deep space or ocean (because they can swim!). With the creation of these muscle robots, it’s opened a door for the future of building robots where they can be created to complete any kind of task with a much more flexible and resistant body to do so. Did I also mention that they’re cheap to produce due to the materials it’s constructed out of? Coupled with being so small (saving on space), and how it can adapt itself with the vision of remotely completing complex tasks in the future, the possibilities really are endless.Okay, giddy blathering over. Thanks for reading!