Text by Jillian Mallon
Researchers in the GRASP Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania are developing an algorithm for designing functioning robots through folding. The paper that details the design and code behind the project, Kinegami: Algorithmic Design of Compliant Kinematic Chains From Tubular Origami, was awarded an honorable mention for the 2023 IEEE Transactions on Robotics King-Sun Fu Memorial Best Paper Award. The project is a collaborative effort between two GRASP subgroups – the Sung Robotics Lab, which focuses on computational design for soft and origami robots, and Kod*lab, which focuses on modeling and control of bio-inspired robots – aiming to make robot design more accessible to the general public.
The motivation behind the Kinegami algorithm originated from a design project in which postdoctoral researcher Dr. Wei-Hsi Chen, co-advised in both groups, was using origami-inspired methods to create new lightweight and power-dense dynamical robots. “I became the bridge between Prof. Koditschek’s world of dynamic systems and Prof. Sung’s origami robots.” recalled Chen. “Eventually, our ideas moved from just building a part of the robot using origami up to a point that we asked, ‘Can we build any robot out of origami?’”
