Origami is an ancient Japanese paper art technique, which allows the folding of a large two-dimensional sheet into a compact volume by careful arrangement of creases. Interestingly, the use of folds and creases to develop hierarchical complex structures can be widely found in nature including the development of an embryo, leaves in a plant and insect wings. Recent years have seen significant growth in the adoption of this technique at all length scales, to develop devices and applications in photonics, mechanical metamaterials and medicine.
Origami robots are functional devices whose structure and dynamics are derived from the paper art techniques and can be used for aeronautical, biomedical and environmental applications. Coupled with advanced manufacturing methods, origami robots, which have tunable compliance, can provide solutions to problems which often cannot be addressed by conventional soft or hard robots. The goal of this Research Topic is to provide a common platform to present the current developments in the field of origami robots from physicists, engineers, clinicians and environmental scientists.
We aim to cover the present trends in design, fabrication, characterization and applications of origami robots. Development of these robots needs a highly interdisciplinary approach and encompasses a wide range of concepts from mathematical design principles, mechanics, control and materials innovation towards specific applications. Areas to be covered in this Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:
• Design principles and algorithms of origami robots at all length scales
• Reconfigurable, autonomous robots
• Control of origami robots
• Novel materials and fabrication principles of origami robots
• Biomedical applications of origami robots e.g. surgery, drug delivery, and sensing
• Evolutionary characteristics of origami robots
• Metamaterials
Keywords: mechanics, design rules, biomedicine, bioinspired, autonomous
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
