Large-Scale Modular and Uniformly Thick Origami-Inspired Adaptable and Load-Carrying Structures

TL;DR

This paper introduces modular, uniformly thick origami-inspired structures capable of deploying at metre scale, adapting shapes, and supporting large loads, with potential applications in civil engineering, aerospace, and robotics.

Contribution

It develops general conditions for flat foldability, developability, and uniform thickness in degree-N origami vertices, enabling large-scale, adaptable, load-bearing structures.

Findings

Structures can deploy into metre-scale configurations.

They can reconfigure between multiple shapes rapidly.

They support large loads due to uniform thickness.

Abstract

Existing Civil Engineering structures have limited capability to adapt their configurations for new functions, non-stationary environments, or future reuse. Although origami principles provide capabilities of dense packaging and reconfiguration, existing origami systems have not achieved deployable metre-scale structures that can support large loads. Here, we established modular and uniformly thick origami-inspired structures that can deploy into metre-scale structures, adapt into different shapes, and carry remarkably large loads. This work first derives general conditions for degree-N origami vertices to be flat foldable, developable, and uniformly thick, and uses these conditions to create the proposed origami-inspired structures. We then show that these origami-inspired structures can utilize high modularity for rapid repair and adaptability of shapes and functions; can harness multi-path folding motions to reconfigure between storage and structural states; and can exploit uniform thickness to carry large loads. We believe concepts of modular and uniformly thick origami-inspired structures will challenge traditional practice in Civil Engineering by enabling large-scale, adaptable, deployable, and load-carrying structures, and offer broader applications in aerospace systems, space habitats, robotics, and more.