Related papers: From Folding Mechanics to Robotic Function: A Unif…
When modeling complex robot systems such as branched robots, whose kinematic structures are a tree, current techniques often require modeling the whole structure from scratch, even when partial models for the branches are available. This…
In this paper, we propose a novel one-dimensional (1D) discrete differential geometry (DDG)-based numerical method for geometrically nonlinear mechanics analysis (e.g., buckling and snapping) of axisymmetric shell structures. Our numerical…
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…
Building AI systems that can plan, act, and create in the physical world requires more than pattern recognition. Such systems must understand the causal mechanisms and constraints governing physical processes in order to guide sequential…
Creating complex spatial objects from a flat sheet of material using origami folding techniques has attracted attention in science and engineering. In the present work, we employ geometric properties of partially folded zigzag strips to…
Despite advances in localization and navigation, aerial robots inevitably remain susceptible to accidents and collisions. In this work, we propose a passive foldable airframe as a protective mechanism for a small aerial robot. A foldable…
Origami folded cylinders (origami bellows) have found increasingly sophisticated applications in space flight and medicine. In spite of this interest, a general understanding of the mechanics of an origami folded cylinder has been elusive.…
Kirigami, the traditional paper-cutting craft, holds immense potential for revolutionizing robotics by providing multifunctional, lightweight, and adaptable solutions. Kirigami structures, characterized by their bending-dominated…
The principles underlying the art of origami paper folding can be applied to design sophisticated metamaterials with unique mechanical properties. By exploiting the flat crease patterns that determine the dynamic folding and unfolding…
Vision foundation models trained on massive amounts of visual data have shown unprecedented reasoning and planning skills in open-world settings. A key challenge in applying them to robotic tasks is the modality gap between visual data and…
Following on Part I of this work series on local kirigami mechanics, we present a study of a discretely creased mechanism as a model to investigate the mechanics of the basic geometric building block of kirigami--the e-cone. We consider an…
Wireless millimeter-scale origami robots that can locomote in narrow spaces and morph their shapes have recently been explored with great potential for biomedical applications. Existing millimeter-scale origami devices usually require…
The current dominant paradigm for robotic manipulation involves two separate stages: manipulator design and control. Because the robot's morphology and how it can be controlled are intimately linked, joint optimization of design and control…
This study proposes a reconfigurable modular building system that assembles multistable curved-crease origami blocks. Curved-crease origami is designed with even-vertex polygonal trajectories and an elastica curvature profile. We then…
"Flat origami" refers to the folding of flat, zero-curvature paper such that the finished object lies in a plane. Mathematically, flat origami consists of a continuous, piecewise isometric map $f:P\subseteq\mathbb{R}^2\to\mathbb{R}^2$ along…
Origami principles are used to create strong, lightweight structures with complex mechanical response. However, identifying the fundamental physical principles that determine a sheet's behavior remains a challenge. We introduce a new…
Flat origami studies straight line, planar graphs $C=(V,E)$ drawn on a region $R\subset\mathbb{R}^2$ that can act as crease patterns to map, or fold, $R$ into $\mathbb{R}^2$ in a way that is continuous and a piecewise isometry exactly on…
Consider an oriented curve $\Gamma$ in a domain $D$ in the plane $\boldsymbol R^2$. Thinking of $D$ as a piece of paper, one can make a curved folding in the Euclidean space $\boldsymbol R^3$. This can be expressed as the image of an…
DNA origami is a widely used method to construct nanostructures by self-assembling designed DNA strands. These structures are often used as "pegboards" for templated assembly of proteins, gold nanoparticles, aptamers, and other molecules,…
Thin sheets can be assembled into tubular origami structures that combine deployability with pronounced anisotropic stiffness, enabling applications ranging from robotics to deployable systems. However, most existing tubular origami designs…