While folding robots may not be anything out of the ordinary these days, researchers at MIT and Harvard have come up with a new type of folding robot. The robot, made of paper and polystyrene plastic (aka Shrinky Dink material), can assemble itself and walk away to do whatever it needs with with no human interaction/input.
Now, a robot can’t just be made of paper, Shrinky Dinks and some strategically placed hinges, so in a move of pure genius*, the researchers also placed a flexible circuit board in the middle, with circuits extending to every hinge, two motors, and two batteries. They also added a micro-controller, which is in charge of activating the circuits to produce heat on demand, which then leads to the robot folding itself like an origami masterpiece. When the circuits cool down and the Shrinky Dinks harden, the micro-controller tells the robot to scuttle away and do its thing.
*sarcasm intended?
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