Fascinating but ultimately traumatizing: A miniature origami robot self-folds, walks, swims, pushes some blocks around, and then (sadly) is destroyed in a vat of acetone.
At the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) last week, researchers from MIT and TU Munich showed off a cute little origami robot that can perform a variety of simple tasks.
And then it dies.
Watch in the video above as it folds itself into shape when heated, walks around on a table, crawls up a human arm, pushes around blocks, carries things twice its weight, digs through some sponges and swims in a pool water.
The shape shifting exterior is made out of polystyrene which wraps around an embedded magnet, and the device is controlled using an alternating external magnetic field and “exerted by embedded coils underneath the robot.”
The materials are all degradable when placed into acetone, as you sadly get to witness at the end of the clip.
Scientists say the oragami robot could eventually be used in “a range of medical applications.” Watch it below
(via The DW)
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