Researchers have created robots which can “shape-shift” without the need for a motor.
North Carolina State University scientists have developed metabots, made from thin sheets of material, that can snap into hundreds of stable shapes. (see the video below)
Professor Jei Yin said the new class of robots were able to execute a wide variety of actions despite the fact they had no motor and were made of a single, flat material.
“These metabots essentially resemble animated sheets of plastic, capable of moving around a surface or grasping objects.
“We start out with simple polymer sheets that have holes into them, but by applying thin films to the surface of the polymer we’re able to incorporate materials that respond to electricity or magnetic fields.
“These films serve as actuators, allowing us to change the shape of the sheet remotely.”
Study first author says Caizhi Zhou said by connecting multiple sheets researchers created structures that were flat initially, but could then bend and fold themselves into a wide variety of stable configurations.
“For example, if we connect four sheets, you have a metabot that can lie as flat as a sheet of paper, but fold into 256 different stable states,” Mr Zhou said.
Read the full study: Multistable thin-shell metastructures for multiresponsive reconfigurable metabots.
