Origami Kaleidocycle-Inspired Symmetric Multistable Compliant Mechanisms

Abstract

Compliant kaleidocycles can be widely used in a variety of applications, including deployable structures, origami structures, and metamorphic robots, due to their unique features of continuous rotatability and multistability. Inspired by origami kaleidocycles, a type of symmetric multistable compliant mechanism with an arbitrary number of units is presented and analyzed in this paper. First, the basic dimension constraints are developed based on mobility analysis using screw theory. Second, the kinematic relationships of the actual rotation angle are obtained. Third, a method to determine the number of stabilities and the position of stable states, including the solution for the parameterized boundaries of stable regions, is developed. Finally, experimental platforms are established, and the validity of the proposed multistable mechanisms is verified.

On the design of a novel fully compliant spherical four-bar mechanism

“…As operating speeds are slow and the masses of the rigid links are negligible, a static force analysis via the virtual work method is appropriate. The virtual work performed by the active generalized forces can be derived as in equation (17) dW…”

“…Bowen et al 16 described a method for obtaining mechanisms providing motion in action origami and utilized this method for creating a classification scheme. Zhang et al 17 analyzed a type of origami kaleidocycle-inspired symmetric multistable compliant mechanism. Jacobsen et al 18 utilized a lamina emergent torsional joint in a spherical compliant mechanism.…”

An Origami-Based Medical Support System to Mitigate Flexible Shaft Buckling

“…Because origami is traditionally created from a single sheet, many origami-based mechanisms can be designed for planar manufacture in sheet materials, leading to lower production costs. Research into the unique behaviors achievable by origami continues to expand our capacity to utilize this art form for engineering purposes [29][30][31][32]. Its unique motion has provided footing for the emergence of new mechanisms [33].…”

An Energy-Based Framework for Nonlinear Kinetostatic Modeling of Compliant Mechanisms Utilizing Beam Flexures

“…The second group is the strain-energy methods. Because strain energy is a scalar quantity (thus is independent of the coordinate frame), it provides a convenient way for capturing the kinetostatic behaviors of compliant mechanisms [6][7][8]. When using energy-based methods, a compliant mechanism is viewed in its entirety and one can neglect the load equilibriums of the internal loads between its adjacent elements [9].…”