Self-Folding Robot Based on Origami

2014-08-08T17:41:00-04:00

While still experimental, engineering techniques drawn from origami promise the development of pop-up devices that could assemble themselves from flat, composite materials cheaply and efficiently, the [Harvard and MIT] researchers said. Potential applications range from self-assembling satellites to shape-shifting robots that could be used in search-and-rescue missions.

Researchers at Harvard University and MIT have engineered a self-assembling paper robot inspired by the Japanese paper-folding artform origami. Since the journal Science published the report yesterday, the bots have been widely described as the "world's first Transformer."

On that note, paper bots...roll out!

Mini-robots may outcompete 3D printing in the evolution of construction

2014-06-19T14:59:00-04:00

A team of researchers from Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia are working on another solution: A swarm of tiny robots that could cover the construction site of the future, quickly and cheaply building greener buildings of any size. [...] "The robots can work simultaneously while performing different tasks, and having a fixed size they can create objects of virtually any scale, as far as material properties permit”

Check out the Minibuilders in action below:

Archinect - News

Self-Folding Robot Based on Origami

Mini-robots may outcompete 3D printing in the evolution of construction