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REAL LIFE NEWS: ORIGAMI ROBOTS COULD LEAD TO PROGRAMMABLE MATTER

by Hazed

Are you too lazy to put in the effort needed to make a paper aeroplane? If so, then your worries are over, because scientists at MIT and Harvard have come up with a startling new invention: paper that folds itself.

The paper is electrically powered to fold itself into various shapes without any human input. Right now, the paper can only manage two shapes, a boat or a plane, but who knows what could be achieved in the future?

"Smart sheets are Origami Robots that will make any shape on demand for their user," says Daniela Rus of MIT's CSAIL Center for Robotics. "A big achievement was discovering the theoretical foundations and universality of folding and fold planning, which provide the brain and the decision making system for the smart sheet," adds Rus.

The scientists believe that their electric folding paper could lead to "programmable matter" able to take on many different forms as required by the user - for example, a "smart cup" able to adjust its size and a "Swiss Army knife" multitool able to form into "tools ranging from wrenches to tripods."

You can watch a video of the paper in action here.

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