Reconfiguration Mechanisms of Humidity-Driven Origami Networks

Adaptive materials that respond mechanically to a stimulus are of interest for a wide range of technologies, including soft robotics, responsive optoelectronics and environmental control systems. Typically these materials demonstrate relatively simple mechanical responses such as shrinking, expanding, or bending. The art of origami, where localized deformation at folds can generate complex structures and mechanisms, provides an opportunity to harness the mechanical response of adaptive materials and channel it into novel mechanical behavior. Using networks of waterbomb and chomper origami mechanisms within a humidity sensitive material, PEDOT:PSS, we demonstrate that the placement of the adaptive material dictates whether a structure undergoes fold inversion or reversible reconfiguration, such as snap-through between bistable states. Design and performance behavior is understood by modeling the response of the origami system to the application of point, linear or areal forces arising from the adaptive material’s shape, location and response to the local environment. Following these principles, we also demonstrate autonomous reconfiguration of complex origami structures in response to local humidity gradients.