Soft robotics has emerged as a promising field of research for wearable, healthcare, and manufacturing applications. Such robots promise substantial advantages over traditional rigid robots for open-ended tasks in unstructured environments and for physical interfaces with biological organisms, including humans.
In contrast to their rigid counterparts, soft materials can easily deform and adapt to a wide range of surroundings. Recently, active soft materials for self-folding robots have attracted significant attention because they inherently convert other forms of energy into mechanical force to create structures without the need for external manipulation.
Many self-folding techniques have been developed by using hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, thermal, or magnetic actuation. Here, we introduced an innovative self-folding method based on microfluidic capillary force in paper.
This new technique enabled a flat paper sheet to self-fold to desired angles with wax patterns, which will be advantageous for many applications inexpensively and autonomously in remote and dangerous environments.
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