Aug 12, 2014 6:30 AM

Gallery: The Deep Design Thinking Behind MIT's Incredible Origami Robot

Harvard's Wyss Institute
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Imagine if [Dunder-Mifflin made robots](http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/162/robot-folds-itself-up-and-walks-away) and you'd have a mental image of the latest breakthrough in robotic technology.
Harvard's Wyss Institute
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A new breed of angular automaton can transform themselves from a 2-D sheet of plastic into a fully functional cyber crab with the aid of a mere coin cell battery.

Harvard's Wyss Institute
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The approach represented by these origami-bots leads to designs that are less powerful, but far more flexible and allows designers to experiment and iterate more quickly and cost effectively.
Harvard's Wyss Institute
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The robot's have a *Decepticon* feel, but the paper's author says the angular look has more to do with maximizing torque than as a reflection of any sinister intentions.

Sam Felton, Harvard SEAS
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These 2-D drones are years in the making and build on previous work at MIT and Harvard including a self-assembling lamp that could one day [upend Ikea](http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-06/09/self-assembling-robot-lamp).
Sam Felton, Harvard SEAS
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An early prototype of an"[inchworm](http://micro.seas.harvard.edu/papers/Felton_ICRA13.pdf?_ga=1.115031044.2035747506.1407515172)" that demonstrated that two dimensional production techniques could produce 'bots that can self assemble and move, even if only in a slug-like fashion.

Sam Felton, Harvard SEAS
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Instead of welding together a metal frame, discrete motors, sensors, and power sources like some kind of Frankenstein, designers can elegantly specify their design and watch it spring to life like a seed emerging from the ground.

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