These configurable bots could launch flat and then be assembled in space. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. A newly designed ...

In what may be the birth of cheap, easy-to-make robots, researchers have created complex machines that transform themselves from little more than a sheet of paper and plastic into walking automatons.

Inspired by the paper-folding art of origami, engineers have discovered a way to make a single plastic cubed structure transform into more than 1,000 configurations using only three active motors.

Transformer bots can form more than 1,000 shapes. (Jie Yin, NC State University via SWNS) By Stephen Beech via SWNS New shape-shifting ‘Transformer bots’ have been inspired by origami. The versatile ...