Programmable matter by folding
Open accessAbstract
Programmable matter is a material whose properties can be programmed to achieve specific shapes or stiffnesses upon command. This concept requires constituent elements to interact and rearrange intelligently in order to meet the goal. This paper considers achieving programmable sheets that can form themselves in different shapes autonomously by folding. Past approaches to creating transforming machines have been limited by the small feature sizes, the large number of components, and the associated complexity of communication among the units. We seek to mitigate these difficulties through the unique concept of self-folding origami with universal crease patterns. This approach exploits a single sheet composed of interconnected triangular sections. The sheet is able to fold into a set of predetermined shapes using embedded actuation. To implement this self-folding origami concept, we have developed a scalable end-to-end planning and fabrication process. Given a set of desired objects, the system computes an optimized design for a single sheet and multiple controllers to achieve each of the desired objects. The material, called programmable matter by folding, is an example of a system capable of achieving multiple shapes for multiple functions.
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The proposal is conservative-it does not require specific directional information at hinges, temporal staging, or using nonflat sheets.
“Thus, our proposal is conservative—it does not require specific directional information at hinges6, temporal staging45, or using nonflat sheets37.”
From Shaping the topology of folding pathways in mechanical systems (2018) · cites this paper as [45]
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- Authors
- Hawkes, E., An, B., Benbernou, N. M., Tanaka, H., Kim, S., Demaine, E. D., Rus, D., & Wood, R. J.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2010-06-28
- Volume
- 107
- Issue
- 28
- Pages
- 12441-12445
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC2906559
- OpenAlex
- W1980587781
- Cited by
- 658
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 59 · 2021: 47 · 2020: 45 · 2019: 47 · 2018: 57 · 2017: 63 · 2016: 48 · 2015: 46 · 2014: 52 · 2013: 37 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 50.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) (submittedVersion)
- Tokyo Tech Research Repository (Tokyo Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Advanced Materials and Mechanics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Soft Robotics and Applications
- Keywords
- programmable matter
- MeSH terms
- Algorithms, Computer Simulation, Models, Theoretical, Robotics
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