The Wheel, Reinvented

The wheel has been reinvented- literally. A group of scientists detailed their design for a new tire that can change its own structure. In a paper published in Science Robotics, the new conceptual wheel is an origami-inspired, shape-shifting tire that can switch between the more traditional tall-and-skinny shape to a short-and-fat form. Inverse has more details: 

The “high-load capacity origami transformable wheel” is not a catchy name, but the wheel uses something called the waterbomb tesselation origami pattern (which is an awesome name) to transition between small and large forms as it is being used.

Origami wheels similar to this one are not new, but these past designs weren’t very good at actually carrying loads during the transition process. A transforming wheel isn’t particularly useful to a driver if you first have to take all your gear off your rig to use it.

The new wheel, however, is capable of bearing more than 2,248 pounds in weight — even when transitioning between wheel shapes.

Image via Inverse