Fun with Science Friday - Self-Folding Robotic Paper

 

Thanks to Engineers at Harvard and MIT, you are looking at an honest-to-goodness Transformer. Sure, it only transforms into the origami shapes of a paper airplane or a boat, not a sporty automobile that can double as a guardian and friend, but you have to admit it's impressive. Unfortunately, Hasbro has the copyrights on the name "Transformer," so they are calling it "Shape-Shifting Sheets" and "programmable matter by folding," which are not nearly as catchy.

All joking aside, this is amazing to watch. It will be interesting to see what develops in the future from this noteworthy achievement. Read about the programmable matter here.

Movie credit: Robert Wood, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Daniela Rus, MIT

Article by: Alisha K. Ard