The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) recently held its 48th Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, along with the 2024 Student Mechanism and Robot Design Competition (2024 SMRDC), in Washington, USA, from August 25 to 28.
A team of graduate students from the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) secured first place in the graduate category with their innovative project, “Transformable chiral origami robot with wheeled and quadcopter modes”.
Widely recognized as one of the most influential student design competitions in the field of mechanism and robot design, the SMRDC aims to showcase student innovation and technical expertise. The competition featured undergraduate and graduate divisions, attracting students from various countries and regions around the world.
SUSTech’s winning design introduced a novel metamorphic land-air origami robot capable of seamless transitions between wheeled and quadcopter modes using a single-degree-of-freedom origami transformation structure. This marks the first application of metamorphic technology in the structural design of rotorcraft.
This breakthrough overcomes the limitations of traditional stacked robot structures by combining the advantages of metamorphic origami robotics and cross-domain robotics. As a result, the robot is highly adaptable to diverse environments, improving its motion efficiency and load-bearing capacity.
SUSTech’s metamorphic origami robot
SUSTech student Lizi DENG presenting at the competition
Under the guidance of Jiansheng DAI, Dean of the SUSTech Institute of Robotics (SIR), and Huijuan FENG, Assistant Professor of the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, master’s student Jiang LIN applied metamorphic principles to origami, resulting in a groundbreaking design that enables robots to operate across land, air, and water.
Master’s students Lizi DENG and Weihao WANG, along with undergraduate Zhongqi MIAO, worked together to overcome the challenge of applying metamorphic technology to cross-domain robots, refining their design and bringing it to life.
The competition featured 42 teams (24 undergraduate and 18 graduate teams) from top universities, including SUSTech, Yale University, Rice University, the University of Notre Dame, Beihang University, and Tianjin University. Following a preliminary round, six undergraduate and six graduate teams advanced to the finals.
Each finalist presented their designs at the conference through PPTs and posters. After thorough evaluation, SUSTech’s team was awarded the top honor in the graduate division, a testament to their unique design and outstanding performance.
This achievement not only highlights the innovation and talent of SUSTech students, but also contributes to the future development and broad application of cutting-edge robotic technologies worldwide.
