Science Daily September 13, 2023
Researchers at the University of Washington designed origami battery-free microfliers using bistable leaf-out structures and found that a simple change in the shape of the origami structures caused two dramatically different falling behaviors. When unfolded and flat, the microfliers exhibited a tumbling behavior that increased lateral displacement in the wind. When folded inward, their orientation was stabilized, resulting in a downward descent that was less influenced by wind. To electronically transition between these two shapes, they designed a low-power electromagnetic actuator that produced peak forces of up to 200 millinewtons within 25 milliseconds while powered by solar cells. They fabricated a circuit directly on the folded origami structure that included a programmable microcontroller, a Bluetooth radio, a solar power–harvesting circuit, a pressure sensor to estimate altitude, and a temperature sensor. Outdoor evaluations showed that their 414-milligram origami microfliers were able to electronically change their shape mid-air, travel up to 98 meters in a light breeze, and wirelessly transmit data via Bluetooth up to 60 meters away, using only power collected from the sun… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
The circuits are assembled and patterned directly onto the flexible material that makes up the microfliers… Credit: Mark Stone/University of Washington