Inflated outlook for shape-morphing devices

摘要

Researchers from Harvard's John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed materials capable of controlling and moulding a balloon into pre-programmed shapes. The system uses kirigami sheets (thin sheets of material with periodic cuts) embedded into an inflatable device. As the balloon expands the cuts in the kirigami sheet guide its shape, permitting expansion in some places and constricting it in others and so creating both large-scale shapes and small features. The team has also developed an algorithm that finds the optimum design for a kirigami inflatable device.