HexaMorph: A Reconfigurable and Foldable Hexapod Robot Inspired by Origami (original) (raw)

Design, manufacturing and testing of re-configurable crawling modular robot inspired from origami

IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering

This paper proposes a new type of origami inspired modular crawling robot that can be used for search and exploration purposes. Origami is an art of paper folding where a 2D sheet of material is folded into a 3D robotic structure. The origami inspired design introduces a low cost manufacturing technique and hence reducing the overall cost of the robot. This robot also has characteristics of modular robots. These robots can be connected, disconnected and reconnected to obtain different configurations. The prototype of the robot is manufactured and two types of crawling locomotion are implemented. Various test cases were created and tested under laboratory conditions. The robot was also tested to validate the characteristics of origami robots, modular robots and crawling locomotion is also implemented in unstructured environment. The first section in your paper

Design of CLARI: A miniature modular origami passive shape-morphing robot

arXiv (Cornell University), 2023

Miniature robots provide unprecedented access to confined environments and show promising potential for novel applications such as search-and-rescue and high-value asset inspection. The capability of body deformation further enhances the reachability of these small robots in complex cluttered terrains similar to those of insects and soft arthropods. Motivated by this concept, we present CLARI, an insect-scale 2.59g quadrupedal robot capable of body deformation with tethered electrical connections for power and control and manufactured using laminate fabrication and assembled using origami pop-up techniques. In order to enable locomotion in multiple shape configurations, we designed a novel body architecture comprising of modular, actuated leg mechanisms. Overall, CLARI has eight independently actuated degrees of freedom (two per modular leg unit) driven by custom piezoelectric actuators, making it mechanically dextrous. We characterize open-loop robot locomotion at multiple stride frequencies (1-10 Hz) using multiple gaits (trot, walk, etc.) in three different fixed body shapes (long, symmetric, wide) and illustrate the robot's capabilities. Finally, we demonstrate preliminary results of CLARI locomoting with a compliant body in open terrain and through a laterally constrained gap, a novel capability for legged robots. Our results represent the first step towards achieving effective cluttered terrain navigation with adaptable compliant robots in real-world environments.

An Origami-Inspired Approach to Worm Robots

IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2013

This paper presents an origami-inspired technique which allows the application of 2-D fabrication methods to build 3-D robotic systems. The ability to design robots as origami structures introduces a fast and low-cost fabrication method to modern, real-world robotic applications. We employ laser-machined origami patterns to build a new class of robotic systems for mobility and manipulation. Origami robots use only a flat sheet as the base structure for building complicated bodies. An arbitrarily complex folding pattern can be used to yield an array of functionalities, in the form of actuated hinges or active spring elements. For actuation, we use compact NiTi coil actuators placed on the body to move parts of the structure on-demand. We demonstrate, as a proof-of-concept case study, the end-to-end fabrication and assembly of a simple mobile robot that can undergo worm-like peristaltic locomotion. 1 Index Terms-Bioinspired robotics, origami-inspired robotics, peristaltic locomotion, printable robotics. I. INTRODUCTION T ODAY, the ever-increasing capabilities of robots are tightly constrained by limitations of their hardware. The bottleneck in the development rate of new robots with expanded capabilities in computation, mobility, and manipulation is the process of design, fabrication, assembly, and development of supporting hardware and electronics. To reduce this effect, we envision a fabrication technique that enables quantum advances in the way engineers develop robotic hardware with high speed and low cost in a straightforward procedure that links specifications to prototypes. Recent advances in 3-D printing technologies provide one way to speed up the fabrication process in comparison to traditional machining practices. These machines deposit material in a layer-by-layer fashion using appropriate support materials that can be easily removed after the fact. It is becoming routine, especially in research laboratories to print various robot parts [2]. Almost any 3-D structure imaginable can be designed in a software tool and fabricated in this fashion. On the other hand, many fabrication alternatives are available for planar substrates. Many of these processes were developed Manuscript

Robot self-assembly by folding: A printed inchworm robot

2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2013

Printing and folding are fast and inexpensive methods for prototyping complex machines. Self-assembly of the folding step would expand the possibilities of this method to include applications where external manipulation is costly, such as micro-assembly, mass production, and space applications. This paper presents a method for self-folding of printed robots from two-dimensional materials based on shape memory polymers actuated by joule heating using embedded circuits. This method was shown to be capable of sequential folding, angle-controlled folds, slot-and-tab assembly, and mountain and valley folds. An inchworm robot was designed to demonstrate the merits of this technique. Upon the application of sufficient current, the robot was able to fold into its functional form with fold angle deviations within six degrees. This printed robot demonstrated locomotion at a speed of two millimeters per second.

Hierarchical Kinematic Design of Foldable Hexapedal Locomotion Platforms

Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 2015

Origami-inspired folding enables integrated design and manufacturing of intricate kinematic mechanisms and structures. Here, we present a hierarchical development process of foldable robotic platforms as combinations of fundamental building blocks to achieve arbitrary levels of complexity and functionality. Rooted in theoretical linkage kinematics, designs for static structures and functional units, respectively, offer rigidity and mobility for robotic systems. The proposed approach is demonstrated on the design, fabrication, and experimental verification of three distinct types of hexapedal locomotion platforms covering a broad range of features and use cases.

Towards printable robotics: Origami-inspired planar fabrication of three-dimensional mechanisms

2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2011

This work presents a technique which allows the application of 2-D fabrication methods to build 3-D robotic systems. The ability to print robots introduces a fast and low-cost fabrication method to modern, real-world robotic applications. To this end, we employ laser-engraved origami patterns to build a new class of robotic systems for mobility and manipulation. Origami is suitable for printable robotics as it uses only a flat sheet as the base structure for building complicated functional shapes, which can be utilized as robot bodies. An arbitrarily complex folding pattern can be used to yield an array of functionalities, in the form of actuated hinges or active spring elements. For actuation, we use compact NiTi coil actuators placed on the body to move parts of the structure on-demand. We demonstrate, as a proof-of-concept case study, the end-to-end fabrication and assembly of a simple mobile robot that can undergo worm-like peristaltic locomotion.

A lightweight modular 12-DOF print-and-fold hexapod

2013 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2013

In this paper we present the design, fabrication and operation of a hexapod fabricated using a combination of printing and folding flat sheets of polyester. The polyester sheets are cut and engraved with crease patterns, which are then manually folded to create 3D functional modules, inspired by the Japanese art of Origami. These modules, when connected, form a hexapod with two degrees of freedom per leg. All custom mechanical parts are manufactured in a planar fashion using a laser cutter. We created this print-and-fold hexapod as a miniature version of a commercially available platform, to which we compare several metrics such as weight, walking speed, and cost of transportation. Our printed hexapod weights 195 g, can walk at speeds of up to 38.1 cm/sec (two body lengths per second) and can be manufactured and assembled from scratch by one person in approximately seven hours. Experimental results of gait control and trajectory tracking are provided.

Origami-Inspired Printed Robots

IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2015

Robot manufacturing is currently highly specialized, time consuming, and expensive, limiting accessibility and customization. Existing rapid prototyping techniques (e.g. 3-D printing) can achieve complex geometries and are becoming increasingly accessible; however they are limited to one or two materials and cannot seamlessly integrate active components. We propose an alternative approach we call printable robots that takes advantage of available planar fabrication methods to create integrated electromechanical laminates that are subsequently folded into functional 3-D machines employing origami-inspired techniques. We designed, fabricated, and tested prototype origami robots to address the canonical robotics challenges of mobility and manipulation, and subsequently combined these designs to generate a new, multifunctional machine. The speed of the design and manufacturing process as well as the ease of composing designs create a new paradigm in robotic development, which has the promise to democratize access to customized robots for industrial, home, and educational use.

Design and Fabrication of Origami Elements for use in a Folding Robot Structure

2019

The aim of the research is to investigate the methodology of the design and fabrication of folding robots that depend on the origami structures. The use of origami structures as a foundation to build reconfigurable and morphing robots that could assist in search and rescue (SAR) tasks are investigated. The design of the origami folding structures divided into three stages: consideration of the geometry of the origami structure, the hinge design, and the actuation system. The result of investigating three origami structures shows the ability to use the unit cell of the origami ball structure as a self-folding element. Furthermore, the novel type of origami structure for manipulation was created according to this result. This novel structure was designed to be a soft manipulation robot arm. Two approaches are used to design and fabricate flexure hinge. The first is by using a 3D printed multi-material technique. By this technique, the hinge printed using soft and solid material at the...

Self-folded soft robotic structures with controllable joints

2017 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2017

This paper describes additive self-folding, an origami-inspired rapid fabrication approach for creating actuatable compliant structures. Recent work in 3-D printing and other rapid fabrication processes have mostly focused on rigid objects or objects that can achieve small deformations. In contrast, soft robots often require elastic materials and large amounts of movement. Additive self-folding is a process that involves cutting slices of a 3-D object in a long strip and then pleat folding them into a likeness of the original model. The zigzag pattern for folding enables large bending movements that can be actuated and controlled. Gaps between slices in the folded model can be designed to provide larger deformations or higher shape accuracy. We advance existing planar fabrication and self-folding techniques to automate the fabrication process, enabling highly compliant structures with complex 3-D geometries to be designed and fabricated within a few hours. We describe this process in this paper and provide algorithms for converting 3-D meshes into additive self-folding designs. The designs can be rapidly instrumented for global control using magnetic fields or tendon-driven for local bending. We also describe how the resulting structures can be modeled and their responses to tendon-driven control predicted. We test our design and fabrication methods on three models (a bunny, a tuna fish, and a starfish) and demonstrate the method's potential for actuation by actuating the tuna fish and starfish models using tendons and magnetic control.