Kinegami: Algorithmic Design of Compliant Kinematic Chains From Tubular Origami

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Penn collection
Departmental Papers (ESE)
General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception Laboratory
Kod*lab
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
GRASP
Kodlab
Dubins path
kinematic synthesis
origami robot
programmable compliance
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Engineering
Systems Engineering
Funder
This work was supported in part by the Army Research Office under the SLICE Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives Program award under Grant W911NF1810327 and in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant 1845339.
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Contributor
Abstract

Origami processes can generate both rigid and compliant structures from the same homogeneous sheet material. In this article, we advance the origami robotics literature by showing that it is possible to construct an arbitrary rigid kinematic chain with prescribed joint compliance from a single tubular sheet. Our “Kinegami” algorithm converts a Denavit–Hartenberg specification into a single-sheet crease pattern for an equivalent serial robot mechanism by composing origami modules from a catalogue. The algorithm arises from the key observation that tubular origami linkage design reduces to a Dubins path planning problem. The automatically generated structural connections and movable joints that realize the specified design can also be endowed with independent user-specified compliance. We apply the Kinegami algorithm to a number of common robot mechanisms and hand-fold their algorithmically generated single-sheet crease patterns into functioning kinematic chains. We believe this is the first completely automated end-to-end system for converting an abstract manipulator specification into a physically realizable origami design that requires no additional human input.

Advisor
Date Range for Data Collection (Start Date)
Date Range for Data Collection (End Date)
Digital Object Identifier
Series name and number
Publication date
2022-10-12
Journal title
IEEE Transaction on Robotics
Volume number
Issue number
Publisher
Publisher DOI
Journal Issue
Comments
Code link: https://codeocean.com/capsule/4635408/tree
Recommended citation
Collection