Shape-Shifting Robots

Researchers at Harvard and MIT are working to create real-life Transformers: robots that can change their shape depending on the electronic commands they receive. “By combining origami and electrical engineering, researchers at MIT and Harvard are working to develop the ultimate reconfigurable robot—one that can turn into absolutely anything. The researchers have developed algorithms that, given a three-dimensional shape, can determine how to reproduce it by folding a sheet of semi-rigid material with a distinctive pattern of flexible creases. To test out their theories, they built a prototype that can automatically assume the shape of either an origami boat or a paper airplane when it receives different electrical signals.”