Embedded Actuation for Shape-Adaptive Origami

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)
218 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Origami-inspired approaches to deployable or morphing structures have received significant interest in a range of fields. For such applications the shape of the origami must be actively controlled. We propose a distributed network of embedded actuators which open/close individual folds, and present a methodology for selecting the positions of these actuators. The deformed shape of the origami structure is tracked throughout its actuation using local curvatures derived from discrete differential geometry. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to select an actuation configuration, which minimises the number of actuators or input energy required to achieve a target shape. The methodology is applied to both a deployed and twisted Miura-ori sheet. The results show that designing a rigidly foldable pattern to achieve shape-adaptivity does not always minimise the number of actuators or input energy required to reach the target.
Original languageEnglish
Article number081703
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Mechanical Design, ASME
Volume143
Issue number8
Early online date8 Feb 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank Isaac Chenchiah (University of Bristol) for suggesting curvature to characterize an origami shape. This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through the ACCIS Doctoral Training Centre (Grant No. EP/G036772/1). This work was carried out using the computational facilities of the Advanced Computing Research Centre, University of Bristol. Data are available at the University of Bristol data repository, data.bris.1

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 by ASME

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