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Multistable thin-shell metastructures for multiresponsive reconfigurable metabots
Caizhi Zhou1, Haitao Qing1, Haoze Sun1
1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Science Advances
|October 15, 2025
Summary
Researchers developed highly reconfigurable multistable metastructures for adaptive robots (metabots). These thin-shell structures enable on-demand shape transformations for versatile manipulation and locomotion in complex environments.
Area of Science:
- Robotics
- Materials Science
- Mechanical Engineering
Background:
- Multistable metastructures offer reconfigurability without locking forces.
- Their application in adaptive robots (metabots) for dynamic environments is underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To harness developable surface-based multistable thin-shell metastructures for adaptive robotic manipulation and locomotion.
- To demonstrate high reconfigurability for creating versatile soft robotic platforms.
Main Methods:
- Constructing multistable metastructures by cutting and bonding thin polymer sheets with patterned cutouts.
- Programming prestored elastic energy to achieve multiple stable configurations.
- Integrating metastructures with multiresponsive soft actuators for robotic functions.
Main Results:
- A single metastructure unit achieved up to 20 stable configurations.
- A four-unit assembly demonstrated 256 reconfigured states.
- Developed adaptive metabots including grippers, jumpers, and crawlers with magnetic and electroactive actuation.
Conclusions:
- Multistable thin-shell metastructures provide high reconfigurability for adaptive soft robotics.
- These metabots exhibit enhanced adaptability and maneuverability for complex tasks.
- Paved the way for energy-efficient, reconfigurable soft robotic platforms.
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