Inspired by the art of paper folding called origami, Fulton Schools Professor Hanqing Jiang and doctoral student Zirui Zhai, both mechanical engineers, have developed designs for curved folding patterns that can enable robotic devices to change the stiffness and flexibility of their gripping capabilities. Shaping flexible materials into these patterns makes it possible to produce simple and inexpensive robotic grippers, swimming robots and other mechanical devices. Today’s adjustable stiffness systems are often bulky and can’t be used in soft robotics or micro-robots. Next, Jiang and Zhai plan to add more remote-control functions to trigger the folding of materials into origami structures. That will enable applying the technique to fields beyond robotics. The discovery is also reported by the Associated Press and tech news outets Manufacturing Business Technology, Gizmodo, Nanowerk and   Science Daily