UBC researchers built a ‘body-swap’ robot to uncover how the brain maintains balance—a breakthrough that could lead to new fall-prevention strategies and assistive technologies for older adults.

Professor Kyu-Jin Cho’s team at Seoul National University announced has developed an interlacing origami structure, called the “FoRoGated-Structure” (Foldable-and-Rollable corruGated Structure), that can be stored in a highly compact rolled form while supporting heavy loads when deployed. Interlacing is a structural design principle in which multiple elements are crossed and interlocked so that they can slide and rearrange in one direction, while locking together in another direction to distribute loads and maintain shape. By applying this principle to an origami-inspired folding structure, the team realized a design that can be folded once and then rolled again for additional compression, yet still maintains high strength and stiffness when extended. Using this structure, the researchers built a tape-measure-like extendable robotic arm and demonstrated its use on a small mobile robot capable of shelf work and on a deployable mobile 3D-printing robot that fabricates structures up to 2.5 meters tall, showing the structure’s potential for a wide range of deployable robotic systems. The study has been published in the prestigious international journal Science Robotics.

An international research team led by the University of Copenhagen, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the University of Nottingham has discovered how plant roots penetrate compacted soil by deploying a well-known engineering principle. The finding could have major implications for future crop development at a time when pressure on agricultural land is increasing.