Related papers: Mechanism-based metamaterials with microstructural…

Shape-morphing capabilities are crucial for enabling multifunctionality in both biological and artificial systems. Various strategies for shape morphing have been proposed for applications in metamaterials and robotics. However, few of…

As we enter the age of designer matter - where objects can morph and change shape on command - what tools do we need to create shape-shifting structures? At the heart of an elastic deformation is the combination of dilation and distortion,…

We present a simple, accessible method for autonomously transforming flat plastic sheets into intricate three-dimensional structures using only uniform heating and common tools such as household ovens and scissors. Our approach combines…

Kirigami tessellations, regular planar patterns formed by cutting flat, thin sheets, have attracted recent scientific interest for their rich geometries, surprising material properties and promise for technologies. Here we pose and solve…

Soft deployable structures - unlike conventional piecewise rigid deployables based on hinges and springs - can assume intricate 3-D shapes, thereby enabling transformative technologies in soft robotics, shape-morphing architecture, and…

Multi-step pathways, constituted of a sequence of reconfigurations, are central to a wide variety of natural and man-made systems. Such pathways autonomously execute in self-guided processes such as protein folding and self-assembly, but…

Manipulation of thin sheets by folding and cutting offers opportunity to engineer structures with novel mechanical properties, and to prescribe complex force-displacement relationships via material elasticity in combination with the…

Kirigami-inspired metamaterials are attracting increasing interest because of their ability to achieve extremely large strains and shape changes via out-of-plane buckling. While in flat kirigami sheets the ligaments buckle simultaneously as…

Morphing surfaces provide a versatile tool to advance the functionalities of high-performance aircraft, soft robots, biomedical devices, and human-machine interfaces. However, achieving precise shape transformation and mechanical property…

Kirigami, the creative art of paper cutting, is a promising paradigm for mechanical metamaterials. However, to make kirigami-inspired structures a reality requires controlling the topology of kirigami to achieve connectivity and rigidity.…

Mechanical metamaterials leverage geometric design to achieve unconventional properties, such as high strength at low density, efficient wave guiding, and complex shape morphing. The ability to control shape changes builds on the complex…

The ancient paper craft of kirigami has recently emerged as a potential tool for the design of functional materials. Inspired by the kirigami concept, we propose a class of kirigami-based metamaterials whose electromagnetic functionalities…

Origami designs offer extreme reconfigurability due to hinge rotation and facet deformation. This can be exploited to make lightweight metamaterials with controlled deployability and tunable properties. Here, we create a family of…

Mechanical metamaterials are architected manmade materials that allow for unique behaviors not observed in nature, making them promising candidates for a wide range of applications. Existing metamaterials lack tunability as their properties…

Mechanical metamaterials are periodic lattice structures with complex unit cell architectures that can achieve extraordinary mechanical properties beyond the capability of bulk materials. A new class of metamaterials is proposed, whose…

Origami metamaterial design enables drastic qualitative changes in the response properties of a thin sheet via the addition of a repeating pattern of folds based around a rigid folding motion. Known also as a mechanism, this folding motion…

The recent development of modular origami structures has ushered in a new era for active metamaterials with multiple degrees of freedom (multi-DOF). Notably, no systematic inverse design approach for volumetric modular origami structures…

Origami structures enabled by folding and unfolding can create complex 3D shapes. However, even a small 3D shape can have large 2D unfoldings. The huge initial dimension of the 2D flattened structure makes fabrication difficult, and defeats…

Structures and/or materials with engineered functionality, capable of achieving targeted mechanical responses reacting to changes in external excitation, have various potential engineering applications, e.g. aerospace, oceanographic…

Mechanical metamaterials exhibit exotic properties at the system level, that emerge from the interactions of many nearly rigid building blocks. Determining these emergent properties theoretically has remained an open challenge outside of a…