A review of origami applications in mechanical engineering
01 Aug 2016-Vol. 230, Iss: 14, pp 2345-2362
TL;DR: An overview of current research in origami applied to mechanical engineering can be found in this article, with a background on key mat-mat concepts and definitions commonly used in the field.
Abstract: This is an overview of current research in origami applied to mechanical engineering. Fundamental concepts and definitions commonly used in origami are introduced, including a background on key mat...
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TL;DR: This review covers the smart designs of structural materials inspired by natural materials and their utility in the construction of flexible devices, and summarizes structural materials that accommodate mechanical deformations, which is the fundamental requirement for flexible devices to work properly in complex environments.
Abstract: Exciting advancements have been made in the field of flexible electronic devices in the last two decades and will certainly lead to a revolution in peoples’ lives in the future. However, because of the poor sustainability of the active materials in complex stress environments, new requirements have been adopted for the construction of flexible devices. Thus, hierarchical architectures in natural materials, which have developed various environment-adapted structures and materials through natural selection, can serve as guides to solve the limitations of materials and engineering techniques. This review covers the smart designs of structural materials inspired by natural materials and their utility in the construction of flexible devices. First, we summarize structural materials that accommodate mechanical deformations, which is the fundamental requirement for flexible devices to work properly in complex environments. Second, we discuss the functionalities of flexible devices induced by nature-inspired stru...
518 citations
TL;DR: The concept of origami robotics is introduced and advances in design principles, fabrication methods, actuation, smart materials and control algorithms are highlighted, examining both challenges and opportunities.
Abstract: Origami robots are created using folding processes, which provide a simple approach to fabricating a wide range of robot morphologies. Inspired by biological systems, engineers have started to explore origami folding in combination with smart material actuators to enable intrinsic actuation as a means to decouple design from fabrication complexity. The built-in crease structure of origami bodies has the potential to yield compliance and exhibit many soft body properties. Conventional fabrication of robots is generally a bottom-up assembly process with multiple low-level steps for creating subsystems that include manual operations and often multiple iterations. By contrast, natural systems achieve elegant designs and complex functionalities using top-down parallel transformation approaches such as folding. Folding in nature creates a wide spectrum of complex morpho-functional structures such as proteins and intestines and enables the development of structures such as flowers, leaves and insect wings. Inspired by nature, engineers have started to explore folding powered by embedded smart material actuators to create origami robots. The design and fabrication of origami robots exploits top-down, parallel transformation approaches to achieve elegant designs and complex functionalities. In this Review, we first introduce the concept of origami robotics and then highlight advances in design principles, fabrication methods, actuation, smart materials and control algorithms. Applications of origami robots for a variety of devices are investigated, and future directions of the field are discussed, examining both challenges and opportunities. Inspired by biological systems, engineers are exploring origami folding with smart material actuation to enable intrinsically actuated designs with complex functionalities and easy fabrication. This Review highlights recent advances in the design, fabrication and control of these origami robots.
346 citations
TL;DR: Inspired by the wing of an earwig, a spring origami model is established that broadens the folding design space of traditional origami and allows for the fabrication of precisely tunable, four-dimensional–printed objects with programmable bioinspired morphing functionalities.
Abstract: Origami enables folding of objects into a variety of shapes in arts, engineering, and biological systems. In contrast to well-known paper-folded objects, the wing of the earwig has an exquisite natural folding system that cannot be sufficiently described by current origami models. Such an unusual biological system displays incompatible folding patterns, remains open by a bistable locking mechanism during flight, and self-folds rapidly without muscular actuation. We show that these notable functionalities arise from the protein-rich joints of the earwig wing, which work as extensional and rotational springs between facets. Inspired by this biological wing, we establish a spring origami model that broadens the folding design space of traditional origami and allows for the fabrication of precisely tunable, four-dimensional–printed objects with programmable bioinspired morphing functionalities.
252 citations
TL;DR: Recent studies on the different aspects of origami materials-geometric design, mechanics analysis, achieved properties, and fabrication techniques-are highlighted and the challenges ahead discussed.
Abstract: Origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, is not only an inspiring technique to create sophisticated shapes, but also a surprisingly powerful method to induce nonlinear mechanical properties. Over the last decade, advances in crease design, mechanics modeling, and scalable fabrication have fostered the rapid emergence of architected origami materials. These materials typically consist of folded origami sheets or modules with intricate 3D geometries, and feature many unique and desirable material properties like auxetics, tunable nonlinear stiffness, multistability, and impact absorption. Rich designs in origami offer great freedom to design the performance of such origami materials, and folding offers a unique opportunity to efficiently fabricate these materials at vastly different sizes. Here, recent studies on the different aspects of origami materials-geometric design, mechanics analysis, achieved properties, and fabrication techniques-are highlighted and the challenges ahead discussed. The synergies between these different aspects will continue to mature and flourish this promising field.
192 citations
TL;DR: The use of origami and kirigami can enable many classes of nontraditional devices not only at the macroscale but also at the micro/nanoscale, with the potential to open up opportunities for unusual engineering designs in micro-systems technologies.
Abstract: DOI: 10.1002/admi.201800284 expand the range of accessible 3D geometries.[5–8] Due to their shape-adaptive nature, origami and kirigami, originally applied only to paper, can serve as routes to large-scale structural systems that require packaging and deployment, such as foldable solar panels,[9,10] retractable roofs,[11] deployable sunshields,[12] and many others.[13] More recent work demonstrates that these and related methods for assembling planar materials into complex 3D structures can exploit sophisticated 2D fabrication technologies and thin film materials from the electronics/optoelectronics industries, to yield functional systems in 3D designs that were previously unachievable.[14–18] In this way, the techniques of origami/kirigami can enable many classes of nontraditional devices not only at the macroscale but also at the micro/ nanoscale, with the potential to open up opportunities for unusual engineering designs in microsystems technologies.[19–22] Much research in origami/kirigami assembly aims to extend the range of length scales and the scope of functional materials that can be realized in 3D systems, and to transfer those ideas and Origami and kirigami, the ancient techniques for making paper works of art, also provide inspiration for routes to structural platforms in engineering applications, including foldable solar panels, retractable roofs, deployable sunshields, and many others. Recent work demonstrates the utility of the methods of origami/kirigami and conceptually related schemes in cutting, folding, and buckling in the construction of devices for emerging classes of technologies, with examples in mechanical/optical metamaterials, stretchable/ conformable electronics, micro/nanoscale biosensors, and large-amplitude actuators. Specific notable progress is in the deployment of functional materials such as single-crystal silicon, shape memory polymers, energy-storage materials, and graphene into elaborate 3D micro and nanoscale architectures. This review highlights some of the most important developments in this field, with a focus on routes to assembly that apply across a range of length scales and with advanced materials of relevance to practical applications. Hall of Fame Article
176 citations
References
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TL;DR: It is shown that prestraining the film further improves the performance of electrical actuators made from films of dielectric elastomers coated on both sides with compliant electrode material.
Abstract: Electrical actuators were made from films of dielectric elastomers (such as silicones) coated on both sides with compliant electrode material. When voltage was applied, the resulting electrostatic forces compressed the film in thickness and expanded it in area, producing strains up to 30 to 40%. It is now shown that prestraining the film further improves the performance of these devices. Actuated strains up to 117% were demonstrated with silicone elastomers, and up to 215% with acrylic elastomers using biaxially and uniaxially prestrained films. The strain, pressure, and response time of silicone exceeded those of natural muscle; specific energy densities greatly exceeded those of other field-actuated materials. Because the actuation mechanism is faster than in other high-strain electroactive polymers, this technology may be suitable for diverse applications.
2,969 citations
"A review of origami applications in..." refers background in this paper
...DEs have high specific elastic energy density, large strain response, fast response time, high actuation stress, and high electromechanical coupling efficiency.(69,70)...
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TL;DR: A simple approach to high-performance, stretchable, and foldable integrated circuits that integrate inorganic electronic materials, including aligned arrays of nanoribbons of single crystalline silicon, with ultrathin plastic and elastomeric substrates.
Abstract: We have developed a simple approach to high-performance, stretchable, and foldable integrated circuits. The systems integrate inorganic electronic materials, including aligned arrays of nanoribbons of single crystalline silicon, with ultrathin plastic and elastomeric substrates. The designs combine multilayer neutral mechanical plane layouts and "wavy" structural configurations in silicon complementary logic gates, ring oscillators, and differential amplifiers. We performed three-dimensional analytical and computational modeling of the mechanics and the electronic behaviors of these integrated circuits. Collectively, the results represent routes to devices, such as personal health monitors and other biomedical devices, that require extreme mechanical deformations during installation/use and electronic properties approaching those of conventional systems built on brittle semiconductor wafers.
1,588 citations
TL;DR: Flexible active-matrix monochrome electrophoretic displays based on solution-processed organic transistors on 25-μm-thick polyimide substrates based on 1,888 transistors are demonstrated, which are the largest organic integrated circuits reported to date.
Abstract: At present, flexible displays are an important focus of research1,2,3 Further development of large, flexible displays requires a cost-effective manufacturing process for the active-matrix backplane, which contains one transistor per pixel One way to further reduce costs is to integrate (part of) the display drive circuitry, such as row shift registers, directly on the display substrate Here, we demonstrate flexible active-matrix monochrome electrophoretic displays based on solution-processed organic transistors on 25-μm-thick polyimide substrates The displays can be bent to a radius of 1 cm without significant loss in performance Using the same process flow we prepared row shift registers With 1,888 transistors, these are the largest organic integrated circuits reported to date More importantly, the operating frequency of 5 kHz is sufficiently high to allow integration with the display operating at video speed This work therefore represents a major step towards 'system-on-plastic'
1,577 citations
TL;DR: Wearable power devices using everyday textiles as the platform, with an extremely simple "dipping and drying" process using single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) ink, are described, which show outstanding flexibility and stretchability and demonstrate strong adhesion between the SWNTs and the textiles of interest.
Abstract: Recently there is strong interest in lightweight, flexible, and wearable electronics to meet the technological demands of modern society. Integrated energy storage devices of this type are a key area that is still significantly underdeveloped. Here, we describe wearable power devices using everyday textiles as the platform. With an extremely simple “dipping and drying” process using single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) ink, we produced highly conductive textiles with conductivity of 125 S cm−1 and sheet resistance less than 1 Ω/sq. Such conductive textiles show outstanding flexibility and stretchability and demonstrate strong adhesion between the SWNTs and the textiles of interest. Supercapacitors made from these conductive textiles show high areal capacitance, up to 0.48F/cm2, and high specific energy. We demonstrate the loading of pseudocapacitor materials into these conductive textiles that leads to a 24-fold increase of the areal capacitance of the device. These highly conductive textiles can provide ...
1,418 citations
"A review of origami applications in..." refers background in this paper
...Applications of this technology include flexible displays, stretchable circuits,(42) hemispherical electronic eyes,(43) epidermal electronics,(44) and conductive textiles.(45)...
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TL;DR: These methods, taken together with the theoretical analyses of their associated mechanics, provide practical routes for integrating well-developed planar device technologies onto the surfaces of complex curvilinear objects, suitable for diverse applications that cannot be addressed by conventional means.
Abstract: The human eye is a remarkable imaging device, with many attractive design features. Prominent among these is a hemispherical detector geometry, similar to that found in many other biological systems, that enables a wide field of view and low aberrations with simple, few-component imaging optics. This type of configuration is extremely difficult to achieve using established optoelectronics technologies, owing to the intrinsically planar nature of the patterning, deposition, etching, materials growth and doping methods that exist for fabricating such systems. Here we report strategies that avoid these limitations, and implement them to yield high-performance, hemispherical electronic eye cameras based on single-crystalline silicon. The approach uses wafer-scale optoelectronics formed in unusual, two-dimensionally compressible configurations and elastomeric transfer elements capable of transforming the planar layouts in which the systems are initially fabricated into hemispherical geometries for their final implementation. In a general sense, these methods, taken together with our theoretical analyses of their associated mechanics, provide practical routes for integrating well-developed planar device technologies onto the surfaces of complex curvilinear objects, suitable for diverse applications that cannot be addressed by conventional means.
1,247 citations