Creating Linkage Permutations to Prevent Self-Intersection and Enable Deployable Networks of Thick-Origami

Area of Science:

• Robotics and Mechanical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Computational Geometry

Background:

• Origami principles offer potential for complex deployable systems.
• Thick materials pose challenges for traditional origami due to limited flexibility and increased self-intersection risk.
• Existing origami applications are often limited to thin, flexible materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel origami-inspired mechanisms adaptable to thick materials.
• To address challenges of folding and self-intersection in non-paper materials.
• To enable the creation of connected, deployable networks using these mechanisms.

Main Methods:

• Introduced permutations of linkage-based mechanisms inspired by origami.
• Developed methods for reconfiguring overconstrained linkages into modified origami-inspired mechanisms.
• Derived equations to describe the folding behavior of these thick-material implementations.
• Demonstrated an approach for designing networks of linkage-based origami vertices.

Main Results:

• Successfully created origami-inspired mechanisms that retain desired kinematics while avoiding self-intersection in thick materials.
• Demonstrated the reconfiguration of overconstrained linkages for practical implementation.
• Provided mathematical descriptions for the folding behavior of these novel mechanisms.
• Showcased the design of networks of these mechanisms and their application in tessellations.

Conclusions:

• Origami principles can be successfully adapted for deployable systems using thick materials through linkage-based mechanisms.
• The developed methods overcome key limitations of traditional origami, enabling new design possibilities.
• This work facilitates the creation of complex, self-intersection-free deployable networks and tessellations.