Their early creations, which they call Electriflow, include origami cranes with bending necks, wriggling flower petals and fluttering butterflies.
“Usually books about butterflies are static,” said Purnendu, a graduate student. “But could you have a butterfly flap its wings within a book? We’ve shown that it’s possible.”
Origami-inspired butterly/Pernendu
Image credit: Purnendu
Purnendu explained that Electriflow designs don't require motors or other traditional machine parts to come to life, allowing them to be soft to the touch. Instead, they use a type of artificial muscle developed at the university which has since been commercialised by Artimus Robotics. These artificial muscles harness hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic actuation; they rely on electrostatic...