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Updated: Aug 30, 2026

Origami Inspired Self-assembly of Patterned and Reconfigurable Particles
Published on: February 4, 2013
Adaptable weaving origami
Siqi Gao1,2, Xi Kang1,2,3, Sen Wang3
1State Key Laboratory of Robotics and Systems (HIT), Shenzhen, 518055, China.
Abstract:
As intelligence continues to deepen in engineering fields, adaptable shape-morphing structures face increasing demands for multifunctionality and reconfigurability. Origami has been widely explored in deployable structures, mechanical computing, metamaterials, and metamorphic robots. However, conventional origami designs typically rely on single-layer folding topologies, which impose intrinsic trade-offs among foldability, mobility, and reconfigurability and thus limit their generality. Here, we show that weaving-inspired origami can overcome these constraints by introducing interlaced strip architectures into origami design. This strategy enables the simultaneous realization of developability, flat-foldability, and rigid foldability, while supporting coupled extension, twisting, and bending deformations. Based on this framework, we establish a library of origami units with diverse polygonal configurations that exhibit rich and programmable morphing behaviors. Demonstrations including mechanical encryption, adaptable apertures, and an origami gripper illustrate the versatility of the proposed approach. These results show that weaving provides a promising pathway for constructing general-purpose origami structures suitable for interdisciplinary engineering applications.
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