China News Service, Beijing, June 15 (Reporter Sun Zifa) Springer Nature's academic journal "Nature-Communications" recently published a robotics paper in which researchers demonstrated a millimeter-scale origami robot that can use magnets and Origami folds for multi-directional rotation-based movement.
The robot is amphibious, able to move and perform tasks in a variety of environments, including controlled liquid drug delivery and directional solid cargo transportation.
According to the paper, wireless millimeter-scale origami robots are expected to perform various tasks or have potential for biomedical applications.
But existing origami robots require complex systems for versatility.
Moreover, these robots have limited movement patterns and cannot move both on land and in water at the same time.
Corresponding author of the paper, Ruike Zhao of Stanford University in the United States, and his colleagues have developed a rotatable wireless amphibious millimeter robot that can roll, flip and rotate.
The robot has a cross-section of 7.8mm in diameter and is constructed in a Kresling origami (hollow cylinder made of triangles) style with attached magnet discs.
The robot uses the folding/unfolding capabilities of Kresling origami to roll, flip, and spin.
In addition, the folding/unfolding nature of the millimeter-scale origami robot enables pumping to deliver liquid drugs.
At the same time, its rotating action provides a suction mechanism that can be used to transport goods.
The authors concluded that the millimeter-scale origami robot they developed may eventually serve as a minimally invasive device for biomedical diagnosis and treatment.
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