Lerner Elisha, Chen Zhe, Zhao Jianguo
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, 1374 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2024 Oct 7;382(2283):20240017. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2024.0017.
With its compactness and foldability, origami has recently been applied to robotic systems to enable versatile robots and mechanisms while maintaining a low weight and compact form. This work investigates how to generate different motions and shapes for origami by tuning its creases' stiffness on the fly. The stiffness tuning is realized by a composite material made by sandwiching a thermoplastic layer between two shape memory polymer layers. This enables the composite to act as a living hinge, whose stiffness can be actively controlled through Joule heating. To demonstrate our concept, we fabricate an origami module with four variable stiffness joints (VSJs), allowing it to have freely controlled crease stiffnesses across its surface. We characterize the origami module's versatile motion when heating different VSJs with different temperatures. We further use two origami modules to build a two-legged robot that can locomote on the ground with different locomotion gaits. The same robot is also used as an adaptive gripper for grasping tasks. Our work can potentially enable more versatile robotic systems made from origami as well as other mechanical systems with programmable properties (e.g. mechanical metamaterials).This article is part of the theme issue 'Origami/Kirigami-inspired structures: from fundamentals to applications'.
由于其紧凑性和可折叠性，折纸最近已应用于机器人系统，以实现多功能机器人和机构，同时保持低重量和紧凑的外形。这项工作研究了如何通过实时调整折纸折痕的刚度来产生不同的运动和形状。刚度调整是通过一种复合材料实现的，该复合材料由夹在两个形状记忆聚合物层之间的热塑性层组成。这使得该复合材料能够充当活动铰链，其刚度可以通过焦耳加热来主动控制。为了证明我们的概念，我们制作了一个具有四个可变刚度关节（VSJ）的折纸模块，使其能够在其表面自由控制折痕的刚度。我们表征了在不同温度下加热不同VSJ时折纸模块的多功能运动。我们进一步使用两个折纸模块构建了一个双腿机器人，该机器人可以以不同的步态在地面上移动。同一个机器人还用作执行抓取任务的自适应夹具。我们的工作有可能实现由折纸以及其他具有可编程特性的机械系统（例如机械超材料）制成的更多功能的机器人系统。本文是主题特刊“受折纸/剪纸启发的结构：从基础到应用”的一部分。
