These colourful origami figures are actually robots

These colorful origami structures are actually robots. Kind of. They're made of modular metamaterials

which act like passive, programmable robots, and their origami-inspired design can help

them improve the world of engineering. Cool? Confusing. Let's break it down

Let's start with the name. Metamaterials is the fancy term scientists give materials that have

have been engineered to improve their design, application, and performance so they can do

things simple materials can't. An example for a simple material is cast iron. Cast iron is a

pretty sturdy material which can make it difficult to work with. Add carbon to it and it becomes

steel, a metamaterial that is just as strong but way easier to bend than cast iron. And because

metamaterials design can be easily manipulated over the past few decades, engineers have developed

shapes that can help improve things like their acoustics and flexibility, as well as their

optical and mechanical properties. Enter this fun little thing, which may look fragile, but

is actually capable of supporting walls. Developed by researchers at Princeton University

the design of this metamaterial was inspired by origami, and specifically the Cressling origami

structures named after their creator. The Cressling origami are specifically engineered to be as

foldable as possible. But even though these structures can bend and fold following their

origami pattern, they're still rigid, meaning they can't twist or bend. That's why the Princeton researchers combined the origami inspired design

with something called chiral geometry. We call chiral all figures which have a mirror image but are not identical to it The term name comes from the Greek Chire which means hand as the human hand is the best way to explain chiral figures Even though our left and our right hands near each other they not identical

So because of the unique combination between origami design and chiral geometry, these

metamaterial structures are pretty flexible. In one single movement, they can twist up to 90 degrees, shrink their height in half

and contract sideways by up to 25%. And remember when I said these origami structures both are and aren't robots

Well, they don't have electronics or motors inside, so they aren't technically robots

but they are referred to as robotic because, just like machines, they can autonomously perform

complex tasks, including the shape-shifting we just mentioned, as well as modular assembly

and a thing called non-commutative state transitions, which simply means that if you twist the structure

and then bend it, you'll get one result. But if you bend it first and then twist it, you'll end up with something completely different

And though all of this can sound rather dry, its potential real-life applications are anything but

The origami metamaterials can be used in fields as different from each other as robotics and construction

In construction, the metamaterials could improve thermoregulation systems, and they can help buildings or heating devices self-adjust to respond to temperature and airflow shifts

Just imagine a building with insulation that moves. And in robotics? Well, do you remember transformers

These metamaterials can help create robots that reconfigure themselves depending on the environment they're in and the task they need to perform

These are only two of the many possible applications of flexible metamaterials, and we can't wait to see what engineers do next

Until then, if you want more similar breakdowns and stories about science and tech, go to Mashable.com, follow us, or subscribe to our YouTube channel