According to Jamie Paik, Director of the Reconfigurable Robotics Laboratory (RRL) at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), in Switzerland, origami robots, also termed robogamis, are part of a paradigm shift in robotic design. Indeed, they are so different and new that they form a framework for robotic design. A framework that extends, for example, to soft robotics, haptics and modular design (EPFL1, EPFL 2, EPFL3). In contrast to traditional, anthropomorphic robots with a single memetic form, robogamis morph. They transform from one form to another, considering that in the terms of mathematics, any 3D shape can be obtained from folding a 2D surface.
The video below shows the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) origami robot, and how this little robot is programmed to morph (CSAIL 1, CSAIL 2). According to Daniela Rus, Director of MIT CSAIL, and of the origami robot project, manufacturing the origami robot is also an innovation, as the MIT origami robots are printed flat (CSAIL 3). A manufacturing process that is fast, inexpensive and convenient. Succinctly, the MIT CSAIL origami robot has a body comprising three layers. The middle layer is heat-reactive, causing the material to shrink (and bend) under the effect of heat. A process that is controlled, for angle degree, via gaps cut-out in the two outer structural layers. Thus, once printed, the robot actually self-folds using a self-folding compiler.
In particular, for example, the MIT CSAIL origami robot was further researched and bench-tested as an ingestible device (Hardesty, 2016). In this simulated application, the MIT CSAIL origami robot is first ingested in a medium that dissolves (e.g., ice). The MIT CSAIL origami robot, once released, then unfolds like an accordion inside a simulated stomach medium, where it is guided via a programmable magnetic field to find small ingested objects such as a button battery. The MIT CSAIL origami robot then attaches to the object via a magnet, dislodging the battery from where it is embedded in the simulated lining of the stomach or esophagus. Thus, the origami robot would fulfill its mission to prevent risks of serious organ ulceration, resulting from ingested button batteries that are stuck. The MIT CSAIL origami robot then might disintegrate, or fracture, under the effect of gastric fluids, so that it can also be expelled through the GI tract. In future versions, the MIT CSAIL origami robot might search and retrieve small ingested objects autonomously using algorithm-driven sensors and cameras, or it might perform different endoscopic interventions, such as delivering medicine or patching wounds, using its own origami structure.
The MIT CSAIL, ingestible, endoscopic, origami robot invention is recited in the US patent application US20200038061A titled Origami robots, systems, and method of treatment. The abstract of the invention is included below, together with the Figure 1 drawing of the patent application. The Figure 1 drawing depicts a magnified view of the origami robot deployed inside the stomach of a patient. The origami robot invention is intended to resolve issues of the prior art of endoscopic devices, as it is a non-invasive procedure, invoking no surgery that relies on a tethered endoscope. Likewise, the origami robot is intended to resolve issues of the prior art of pill-cam endoscopes, devices that are unguided, once ingested.
Specifically, the Figure 1 drawing depicts a patient 130, and an origami robot 103 that is encapsulated by biocompatible material 101, in the shape of a capsule or pill 100. The biocompatible material 101 is meltable or degradable, once ingested into the patient’s GI tract 132. The origami robot 103 comprises a foldable body portion 102, comprising actuation means for unfolding. The foldable body portion 102 initially appears folded 110, inside the stomach, once the encapsulation has disintegrated/melted. Then, the body portion 102, is also depicted unfolded 120. A magnet 104, designed to retrieve a lodged button battery, is also depicted in this embodiment of the origami robot 103. Finally, an area 104 is also shown. The area 104 corresponds to a wound site that the endoscopic origami robot is designed to treat.
References
EPFL – Reconfigurable
Robotics Laboratory - École
Polytechnique Fédérale
de Lausanne. https://www.epfl.ch/labs/rrl/
EPFL (1) – RRL - Modular Origami Robots. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. https://www.epfl.ch/labs/rrl/research-2/research-origami/mori/
EPFL (2) – RRL – Artificial skin could help rehabilitation and enhance virtual reality. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. https://actu.epfl.ch/news/artificial-skin-could-help-rehabilitation-and-enha/
EPFL (3) – RRL –
Spinoffs- FOLDAWAY – Ultra-portable haptic interface. https://www.epfl.ch/labs/rrl/spin-offs/
Hardesty, L. (May 12, 2016) Ingestible origami robot. https://news.mit.edu/2016/ingestible-origami-robot-0512
MIT – Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). https://www.csail.mit.edu/
MIT CSAIL (1) (Aug. 7, 2014) Origami robot folds itself, walks away. https://www.csail.mit.edu/news/origami-robot-folds-itself-walks-away
MIT CSAIL (2) (June 12, 2015) Origami robot self folds, crawls, swims, self-destructs. https://www.csail.mit.edu/news/origami-robot-self-folds-crawls-climbs-swims-self-destructs
MIT CSAIL (3) Daniela Rus (Director of CSAIL) – Research Project: Self-folding robots. http://danielarus.csail.mit.edu/index.php/2015/09/lorem-ipsum-2/
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