Robohub.org
 

Cell origami


by
19 February 2013



share this:

A couple years back, a team from Harvard and MIT developed a sheet of “programmable matter” that could fold into 3D structures. The hope being that you could one day produce a variety of objects on demand. If you need a hammer, your programmable matter would reconfigure to make one. The concept, coined “Robotic Origami”, was published in the renowned journal PNAS.

At the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) last October, I saw an excellent talk by Dr. Kaori Kuribayashi-Shigetomi from the University of Tokyo about “Cell Origami”. Her work, which was recently published in PLOS One, uses the natural pulling force that cells produce on surfaces where they grow to fold smartly cut and positioned 2D sheets into desired 3D structures. The process, demonstrated in the video below, shows cells grown on top of engineered microplates fixed to a flat surface. To fold the structure, simply detach the microplates from the surface and allow the cells to pull them into a 3D structure. The cells in this case act like a rubber-band. Such 3D structures could be useful for a variety of applications including tissue engineering or 3D assembly at the microscale. By using the natural beats produced by heart cells (cardiomyocytes) to actuate the microplates, she is then able to make a “flapping robot”. The end of the video shows that these 3D structures can be mass produced with 1200 structures folded per cm2.



tags: , , , , , ,


Sabine Hauert is President of Robohub and Associate Professor at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory
Sabine Hauert is President of Robohub and Associate Professor at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory





Related posts :



Livestream of RoboCup2025

  18 Jul 2025
Watch the competition live from Salvador!

Tackling the 3D Simulation League: an interview with Klaus Dorer and Stefan Glaser

and   15 Jul 2025
With RoboCup2025 starting today, we found out more about the 3D simulation league, and the new simulator they have in the works.

An interview with Nicolai Ommer: the RoboCupSoccer Small Size League

and   01 Jul 2025
We caught up with Nicolai to find out more about the Small Size League, how the auto referees work, and how teams use AI.

RoboCupRescue: an interview with Adam Jacoff

and   25 Jun 2025
Find out what's new in the RoboCupRescue League this year.

Robot Talk Episode 126 – Why are we building humanoid robots?

  20 Jun 2025
In this special live recording at Imperial College London, Claire chatted to Ben Russell, Maryam Banitalebi Dehkordi, and Petar Kormushev about humanoid robotics.

Gearing up for RoboCupJunior: Interview with Ana Patrícia Magalhães

and   18 Jun 2025
We hear from the organiser of RoboCupJunior 2025 and find out how the preparations are going for the event.

Robot Talk Episode 125 – Chatting with robots, with Gabriel Skantze

  13 Jun 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Gabriel Skantze from KTH Royal Institute of Technology about having natural face-to-face conversations with robots.

Preparing for kick-off at RoboCup2025: an interview with General Chair Marco Simões

and   12 Jun 2025
We caught up with Marco to find out what exciting events are in store at this year's RoboCup.



 

Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence


 












©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence