Herein, we discuss the folding of highly compliant origami structures—“Soft Origami.” There are benefits to be had in folding compliant sheets (which cannot self-guide their motion) rather than conventional rigid origami. Example applications include scaffolds for artificial tissue generation and foldable substrates for flexible electronic assemblies. Highly compliant origami has not been contemplated by existing theory, which treats origami structures largely as rigid or semirigid mechanisms with compliant hinges—“mechanism-reliant origami.” We present a quantitative metric—the origami compliance metric (OCM)—that aids in identifying proper modeling of a homogeneous origami structure based upon the compliance regime it falls into (soft, hybrid, or mechanism-reliant). We discuss the unique properties, applications, and design drivers for practical implementation of Soft Origami. We detail a theory of proper constraint by which an ideal soft structure's number of degrees-of-freedom may be approximated as 3n, where n is the number of vertices of the fold pattern. Buckling and sagging behaviors in very compliant structures can be counteracted with the application of tension; we present a method for calculating the tension force required to reduce sagging error below a user-prescribed value. Finally, we introduce a concept for a scalable process in which a few actuators and stretching membranes may be used to simultaneously fold many origami substructures that share common degrees-of-freedom.
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October 2016
Research-Article
Soft Origami: Classification, Constraint, and Actuation of Highly Compliant Origami Structures
Charles M. Wheeler,
Charles M. Wheeler
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
77 Massachusetts Avenue,
35-135,
Cambridge, MA 02139
e-mail: wheelerc@mit.edu
77 Massachusetts Avenue,
35-135,
Cambridge, MA 02139
e-mail: wheelerc@mit.edu
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Martin L. Culpepper
Martin L. Culpepper
Fellow ASME
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
77 Massachusetts Avenue,
35-237,
Cambridge, MA 02139
e-mail: culpepper@mit.edu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
77 Massachusetts Avenue,
35-237,
Cambridge, MA 02139
e-mail: culpepper@mit.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Charles M. Wheeler
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
77 Massachusetts Avenue,
35-135,
Cambridge, MA 02139
e-mail: wheelerc@mit.edu
77 Massachusetts Avenue,
35-135,
Cambridge, MA 02139
e-mail: wheelerc@mit.edu
Martin L. Culpepper
Fellow ASME
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
77 Massachusetts Avenue,
35-237,
Cambridge, MA 02139
e-mail: culpepper@mit.edu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
77 Massachusetts Avenue,
35-237,
Cambridge, MA 02139
e-mail: culpepper@mit.edu
Manuscript received September 14, 2015; final manuscript received December 17, 2015; published online May 4, 2016. Assoc. Editor: James Schmiedeler.
J. Mechanisms Robotics. Oct 2016, 8(5): 051012 (7 pages)
Published Online: May 4, 2016
Article history
Received:
September 14, 2015
Revised:
December 17, 2015
Citation
Wheeler, C. M., and Culpepper, M. L. (May 4, 2016). "Soft Origami: Classification, Constraint, and Actuation of Highly Compliant Origami Structures." ASME. J. Mechanisms Robotics. October 2016; 8(5): 051012. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4032472
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