A material produced by Harvard researchers changes size, volume and shape all by itself, reports The Harvard Gazette. The new material, inspired by the “snapology” technique from origami is composed of extruded cubes that have 24 faces and 36 edges.
The cube folds along its edges to produce different shapes, and during tests the use of various pneumatic actuators allowed the material to be programmed to transform without external input. Yet actuators could be of any type, including thermal, dielectric or water. During the tests, 64 individual cells of the new material were connected to form a 4x4x4 cube that could change size, shape, and orientation – in turn controlling the material’s stiffness.
