At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), researchers make origami robots, just a centimetre long and a third of a gram in weight, that could offer a glimpse into what the future of robotics holds: small, versatile and environmentally friendly devices. After being printed, each one of these origami robots self-assembles, navigates around obstacles on land and in water, and ultimately dissolves into liquid, making them the first robotic devices to complete ‘a full lifecycle from birth to death’. The robots’ inventors hope they could someday be used as a controllable drug capsule or to help execute surgeries.
Could these printable, self-assembling origami robots transform medicine?
Producer: Melanie Gonick
Website: MIT Media Lab
7 July 2015
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