Origami-Inspired Snap-through Bistability in Parallel and Curved Mechanisms Through the Inflection of Degree Four Vertexes

Abstract

Origami, the art of folding paper, can impart useful design inspirations to the creation of mechanical structures and mechanisms. Bistability is a useful property for origami designs, which can help compartmentalize different actuations and stiffness tuning regimes. Given the benefits of bistability, we investigated origami designs used to build robots and deployable structures. We show snap-through bistable designs applied to parallel and curved mechanisms, which are of value to robotic mechanical design. The designs proposed were investigated through geometry analysis and stress-strain experiments. The origami designs were modified to show that the mechanical properties of our bistable designs can be modulated. Initial actuation utilized magnetic and tendon-driven mechanisms for the parallel and curved structures, respectively. We anticipate that these bistable snap-through designs can contribute to deployable mechanisms and give such devices additional capabilities in mechanical response tuning.