The Design and Fabrication of a Deformable Origami Wheel

摘要

This paper presents manufacturing methods for origami laminates that have better fatigue and load bearing capacity than cardstock paper and polyester, two common origami prototyping materials. Three methods were developed and tested: variations of Shape Deposition Manufacturing (SDM), “desktop” Smart Composite Microstructure Fabrication (SCM), and a novel 3D printing process. The SDM based approach produced precise patterns but was limited to a work area of 60 mm by 60 mm. The 3D printed method created laminates with approximately 6.5 times the load bearing capacity of cardstock with an estimated fatigue life of 106 cycles. The variation of the SCM process carried approximately 8 times more load than card-stock. A small prototype robot was built to demonstrate the robustness of the manufacturing methods using a novel deformable origami wheel inspired by the para-cylinder fold pattern. Four deformable wheels on the chassis were able to function as the transmission, steering mechanism, and suspension of the robot.