Robogami: A Fully Integrated Low-Profile Robotic Origami

Abstract

Intelligent robotic systems that can react to unprogrammed tasks and unforeseen environmental changes require augmented “softness.” Robogami, a low-profile origami robot, addresses intrinsic (material-wise) and extrinsic (mechanism-wise) softness with its multi-degree-of-freedom (DOF) body driven by soft actuators. The unique hardware of the Robogami and its submillimeter thick construction enable diverse transformations as those achievable by the paper origami. The presented Robogami shows the first fully integrated version that has all the essential components including its controller within a thin sheet. Construction of this robot is possible via precise, repeatable, and low cost planar fabrication methods often reserved for microscale fabrications. In this research, we aim at expanding the capabilities of Robogamis by embedding bidirectional actuation, sensing, and control circuit. To assess the performance of the proposed sensors and actuators, we report on the performance of these components in a single module and in the four-legged crawler robot.