Gallery: The Deep Design Thinking Behind MIT's Incredible Origami Robot

  • Imagine if DunderMifflin made robots and you'd have a mental image of the latest breakthrough in robotic technology.
    Harvard's Wyss Institute
    01

    robot-01

    Imagine if [Dunder-Mifflin made robots](http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/162/robot-folds-itself-up-and-walks-away) and you'd have a mental image of the latest breakthrough in robotic technology.
  • Image may contain Vehicle Transportation Aircraft and Airplane
    Harvard's Wyss Institute
    02

    robot-02

    A new breed of angular automaton can transform themselves from a 2-D sheet of plastic into a fully functional cyber crab with the aid of a mere coin cell battery.
  • The approach represented by these origamibots leads to designs that are less powerful but far more flexible and allows...
    Harvard's Wyss Institute
    03

    robot-03

    The approach represented by these origami-bots leads to designs that are less powerful, but far more flexible and allows designers to experiment and iterate more quickly and cost effectively.
  • Image may contain Robot
    Harvard's Wyss Institute
    04

    robot-04

    The robot's have a *Decepticon* feel, but the paper's author says the angular look has more to do with maximizing torque than as a reflection of any sinister intentions.
  • Image may contain Human and Person
    Sam Felton, Harvard SEAS
    05

    robot-05

    These 2-D drones are years in the making and build on previous work at MIT and Harvard including a self-assembling lamp that could one day [upend Ikea](http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-06/09/self-assembling-robot-lamp).
  • Image may contain Machine
    Sam Felton, Harvard SEAS
    06

    robot-07

    An early prototype of an"[inchworm](http://micro.seas.harvard.edu/papers/Felton_ICRA13.pdf?_ga=1.115031044.2035747506.1407515172)" that demonstrated that two dimensional production techniques could produce 'bots that can self assemble and move, even if only in a slug-like fashion.
  • Image may contain Machine
    Sam Felton, Harvard SEAS
    07

    robot-06

    Instead of welding together a metal frame, discrete motors, sensors, and power sources like some kind of Frankenstein, designers can elegantly specify their design and watch it spring to life like a seed emerging from the ground.
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