When it comes to building robots, most look for powerful motors. It is possible to build them without a motor if you use a special material that can twist, contract and change shape. The Engineers at Princeton University have created just the type of material that can do that. It assumes new shapes to follow electromagnetic commands.
The below video shows it in action:
折り紙から着想を得た、対掌性折り紙メタマテリアル
ねじれたり、収縮したりと形状を変えて動くことができるhttps://t.co/rJj4gwDSQ0#modular #chiral #origami #metamaterial #robot #Transformers #metabot #PrincetonEngineering pic.twitter.com/xK1o2xWJZt— T.Yamazaki (@ZappyZappy7) April 25, 2025
Researchers were inspired by the art of origami to create this structure. With a magnetic field, it is possible to change the structure, causing it to expand and move in different directions. As Princeton Engineering explains:
The metabot is a modular conglomeration of many reconfigurable unit cells that are mirror images of each other. This mirroring, called chirality, allows for complex behavior.
These guys created a metabot that is 100 microns in height. In the future, such robots can be used to repair damaged tissue or deliver medicine to specific parts of the body.
[HT]
