Untethered bistable origami crawler for confined applications

Abstract

Magnetically actuated miniature origami crawlers are capable of robust locomotion in confined environments but are limited to passive functionalities. Here, we propose a bistable origami crawler that can shape-morph to access two separate regimes of folding degrees of freedom that are separated by an energy barrier. Using the modified bistable V-fold origami crease pattern as the fundamental unit of the crawler, we incorporated internal permanent magnets to enable untethered shape-morphing. By modulating the orientation of the external magnetic field, the crawler can reconfigure between an undeployed locomotion state and a deployed load-bearing state. In the undeployed state, the crawler can deform to enable out-of-plane crawling for robust bi-directional locomotion and navigation in confined environments based on friction anisotropy. In the deployed state, the crawler can execute microneedle insertion in confined environments. Through this work, we demonstrated the advantage of incorporating bistability into origami mechanisms to expand their capabilities in space-constraint applications. Catherine Jiayi Cai, Hui Huang and Hongliang Ren design a magnetically actuated bistable origami crawler that can transition between a locomotion and function mode, where each mode can be operated independently. The origami crawler is designed for use in confined spaces such as the gastrointestinal tract.