Battery-Free Robots Use Origami to Change Shape in Mid-Air
University of Washington researchers have developed small robotic devices — “microfliers” — that can change how they move through the air by “snapping” into a folded position during their descent. When dropped from a drone, the microfliers use a Miura-ori origami fold to switch from tumbling and dispersing outward through the air to dropping straight to the ground. Watch this video to see the researchers control the timing of each device’s transition and the few methods they used.
“Using origami opens up a new design space for microfliers,” said co-senior author Vikram Iyer , UW assistant professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering.
Transcript
00:00:04 PRESENTER: Origami is an art form cherished by people across the globe and has a history that spans centuries. In addition to creating art, origami folds can enable a variety of useful engineering properties. On a single sheet of material, for instance, leaflet origami demonstrates bias stability, meaning that it has two distinct folded shapes that requires energy to transition between. We discovered that these two states have dramatically different falling behaviors.
00:00:28 In one shape, they tumble chaotically in the wind, like elm leaves, whereas in the other state, they have a stable and graceful descent like a maple leaf. Leveraging this property, we create battery free origami microfliers that can change their shape in mid air to control their flight behavior. On the left, we see our origami flyer hovering in a vertical wind tunnel, while on the right, it flies away and flips through the air. This is because in its flat state,
00:00:52 the origami creates an oscillating vortex of air that causes it to flip, while the air in the folded state is more streamlined and stable. To control this state change in flight, we developed a lightweight batteryless mechanism that allows the flyers to transform mid flight. Made from a solenoid and permanent magnet, this umbrella mechanism harnesses the energy required for transition from the sun with enough excess energy to also power the device's computing
00:01:15 and sensing units as well. By using an onboard pressure sensor or clock to change shape at a specific altitude or time, these tiny microfliers can vary how far they fly in the wind. They can also transmit sensor data wirelessly as they descend to monitor how temperature, lighting conditions, or other environmental factors vary across the atmosphere. Origami opens up a new design space for flying sensors and robots.
00:01:39 A network of such microfliers could help researchers across a myriad of fields, including digital agriculture, climate change monitoring, and more.