A team of researchers from Hong Kong University have created a shape-shifting robo-fingertip inspired by origami. At first glance, it may look like a paper flower, but this shape-shifting device can morph into three different modes. You know, like a Transformer. The fingertip can easily change so it can function more like a human hand, as Syfy details:
“Robotic systems do not have to be constrained by human’s structure and capabilities, robot can surpass human in various perspectives, also in the grasping genre,” said Zicheng Kan, who co-authored a study recently presented at the IEEE International Conference on Automaton Science and Engineering (CASE). “In terms of stability, our fingertip can form concave tip surface to provide a squeezing equilibrium that traps the object so as to secure a successful grasp.”
If origami can inspire satellites that get launched into space, it can really inspire anything.
Kan and his team leveled up a previous design into something Optimus Prime only wishes he had at his fingertips. Its skeleton is an original origami design that involves a central platform with a quad of facets. Each of these four facets, which look like petals, has its own servo motor (the same tech behind many movie animatronics) that lets them move around individually if they need to. There is a ball joint in the center that allows for maximum pivoting action, especially if it has to tilt when it rotates. The grasping poses are also easy to control.
Image via Syfy