The boffins at Harvard, Cornell and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with an innovative concept for the world’s first Transforming Robot.
Rather than arriving from Cybertron as expected the little shape-shifting bot comes from the East Coast of America where the developers were inspired by the Japanese paper folding art of origami and created the unit for just a hundred dollars.
The inexpensive list of parts include common household or office paper which has been folded, a motor and batteries, as well as putting to use the long lost 80s fad Shrinky Dinks. The crafty toy from yesterday offers flexible flat parts that can become rigid when heated and help complete the transformation.
These simplistic components contribute to its complex design which allows a flattened sheet to assemble itself into a robotic form that slowly morphs and then suddenly pops into life and can propel itself forward in a somewhat disturbing juddering motion and we hope this guy joins up with the Autobots and not the evil Decepticons as we really wouldn’t want it chasing us!
It’s really remarkable watching this ‘Transformer’ spring into action and sparks a lot of inspiration as to what this concept could lead to and we can but hope these guys get a call from toymaker Hasbro! But the potential practical application for this tech is also mind-blowing.