Origami-based Zygote structure enables pluripotent shape-transforming deployable structure

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel algorithmic framework inspired by biological pluripotency, enabling a compact initial structure to transform into diverse complex 3-D shapes for deployable structures and robots.

Contribution

It presents a new stacking algorithm that encodes shape transformations, allowing a simple structure to evolve into arbitrary 3-D forms using programmable connection paths.

Findings

Successfully demonstrated shape transformation with spring hinges.

Achieved large structure fabrication in smaller workspace.

Validated concept with thermally actuated SMA hinges.

Abstract

We propose an algorithmic framework of a pluripotent structure evolving from a simple compact structure into diverse complex 3-D structures for designing the shape transformable, reconfigurable, and deployable structures and robots. Our algorithmic approach suggests a way of transforming a compact structure consisting of uniform building blocks into a large, desired 3-D shape. Analogous to the pluripotent stem cells that can grow into a preprogrammed shape according to coded information, which we call DNA, compactly stacked panels named the zygote structure can evolve into arbitrary 3-D structures by programming their connection path. Our stacking algorithm obtains this coded sequence by inversely stacking the voxelized surface of the desired structure into a tree. Applying the connection path obtained by the stacking algorithm, the compactly stacked panels named the zygote structure can be deployed into diverse large 3-D structures. We conceptually demonstrated our pluripotent evolving structure by energy releasing commercial spring hinges and thermally actuated shape memory alloy (SMA) hinges, respectively. We also show that the proposed concept enables the fabrication of large structures in a significantly smaller workspace.