Scientists Roll Out Real-Life Transformers Inspired by Origami

Scientists who were unhappy with robots being less than or equal to what meets the eye have created their own robots in disguise. Inspired by origami, the little bots can transform from a flat piece of plastic and a pair of motors into a walking robot with just a bit of heat.

The current designs are small, but the technology should eventually be scaled up and applied to different materials to create whatever bigger, more complicated designs we need. Right now, the Harvard and MIT researchers responsible for Origami Prime envision that need as robots that can be deployed through small spaces in rescue situations, so we’ll have to wait a bit for Camaros and 18 wheelers.

The bot in the video above heats its components and transforms automatically as soon as its battery is plugged in, but they could easily be designed to initiate the process on receiving a signal or on specific conditions in their surroundings through built-in sensors. I take it the ones in Michael Bay’s movies were early models tuned to sense terrible scripts.

(via Re/code, featured image via Seth Kroll/Wyss Institute)

Previously in Transformers things

• Here’s a giant Transformer sculpture built out of a real car
• This is what you’re (not) missing in Transformers: Age of Extinction
• Make yourself into a Transformer with new Her Universe Transformers clothing line

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