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The new shape-shifting wheels can really go anywhere

The shape-changing wheel developed by a Korean team has the structure and dynamics of an origami: it will be the future of space missions.

Gianluca Ricciodi Gianluca Riccio
in concepts, Technology
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Shapeshifter wheel
April 9 2021
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Long ago the human race invented the wheel. A shame not to be there to tell about that new technology, I admit I broke the news. Since then he has seen many, and is still very useful, even on Mars (in the Perseverance rover). It sounds like a very difficult invention to modify, but that hasn't stopped researchers from designing a new tire. A shapeshifter, a sort of origami capable of altering its structure.

The project has just been published in the magazine Science Robotics, and it is a "birth" of Seoul National University, Harvard University e Hankook Tire and Technology Co.

Shapeshifter wheel
The diagram taken from the study on the shape-changing wheel

A shape-changing wheel: the next evolution?

The new tire can go from a thinner and more conventional shape to a thicker and chunky structure. This shape-shifting design allows the wheels to deliver significant benefits that 'classic wheel' structures cannot match.

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Despite its cumbersome name, “High Load Capacity Transformable Origami Wheel,” the new design uses the very principle of origami. To be precise: a tessellation origami. It is not exactly a new invention, but previous models were unable to support the “transformation” loads in different forms. And therefore they were of little use. Not this one: this one holds up.

Substantial differences

The new shape-shifting wheel can support more than 1.019 kg (2.248 lbs), even as it changes shape. The origami design uses flexible membranes that fold outwards. It has a flexibility that allows it to absorb shocks and distortions even from uneven ground.

With a "thin" shape it moves on obstacle terrain. With a more massive shape it runs smoothly even on sand. It may not be on the next luxury sedan, but the shape-shifting wheel has possible applications for rovers for upcoming space missions.

The shape-shifting wheel will take away from engineers the need to design different wheels for each mission, trying to imagine the terrain. A difficult thing, hundreds of millions of kilometers away.

tags: tyreswheels
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