It’s folds!
It’s cuts!
It’s art!
It’s science!
It’s Oh My Gami!!!!
A look at how kirigami and origami are cutting
-- and folding --
their way into technologies of the future.
Advancing the sciences, with research supported
by the National Science Foundation.
The beauty of this kirigami invention is that
it IS … skin deep!
A team of researchers has engineered a soft
robotic skin inspired by snakes.
As the robot stretches, the kirigami cuts
pop up, transforming the robot skin into a
3D-textured surface that grips the ground
just like snakeskin.
The skin can be programmed by controlling
the cuts and the curvature of the surface.
If the cuts are the same size, the pop ups
cascade from one end to the other.
Vary the size of the cuts, and the skin can
be programmed to deform in specific sequences,
improving the robot’s speed and accuracy.
The researchers say their design advances
responsive surfaces and smart skins.
These origami-inspired designs are hidden
in plain sight.
They’re called “developable mechanisms.”
Materials that take on 3-D shapes, popping
out from curved surfaces without tearing,
stretching or sacrificing space.
Like the arms of the Ironman suit, they transform
when deployed to serve unique functions.
Then simply fold back into the structure.
The research team is circling lots of potential
applications for curved origami design.
Multipurpose surgical tools.
Drones that compact.
Wheels with legs.
Not to mention designs for spacecraft.
The team hopes their research will lead to
discoveries that make the world a better place.
We think Tony Stark would approve!
This origami design will have less of an impact,
and that is exactly the point.
The researchers engineered origami folds that
soften impact forces and replace them with
other forces that relax stresses.
The impact of the hit decreases as it moves
through the chain.
You can see how it works.
The red is the direct hit, the compression.
Then the blue, bouncing back is the decompression,
and as they move through the origami folds,
the blue, the decompression, moves ahead of
the red.
The researchers say this metamaterial has
the potential to buffer all sorts of impacts,
from landings to car accidents to sports.
The next step is to create a composite material
for a specific application of the design.
As sensors become more common,
how do you make them smaller,
more durable,
and less power hungry?
This research team stretched for success,
applying kirigami cuts to the world’s thinnest
material – graphene.
The result is a wearable sensor that stretches
up 240%, and twists 720 degrees –
yet returns to its original shape and still
conducts signals.
This graphene kirigami was developed using
a new online platform for nano-manufacturing.
Researchers are already working on sensor
version 2.0.
And there you go: Origami and Kirigami.
With the National Science Foundation, advancing
“cutting” edge research into the future.
Where you never know what’ll “unFOLD.”
Oh My Gami!
