Fold it, hold it

Interdisciplinary teamwork

The success of the haptic device research can be attributed to the collaborative efforts of Jiang's lab members. The team is deeply engaged in interdisciplinary research. It comprises more than 30 members with diverse backgrounds in fields such as mechanics, engineering, chemical engineering and robotics.

"The backgrounds of our laboratory members may appear varied, but they all share a common thread of mechanics. Whether it's robotics, interaction, or any other field, the fundamental principles are rooted in mechanics," explains Jiang.

Jiang, 48, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, joined Westlake University as Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering in 2021 and established his laboratory.

Jiang's expertise lies in engineering mechanics, primarily focusing on applying theoretical principles of mechanics to solve practical problems.

He stumbled upon the field of paper folding by chance and started exploring its applications in mechanics 10 years ago.

"Paper folding has an intriguing aspect: its high reconfigurability. Different folds in a piece of paper result in different performance characteristics. Our research revolves around designing these folds," he says.

"In the past few years, we found curve folding interesting and discovered that a single curve fold can impart a wide range of specific properties."

After working on "origami research" for 10 years and witnessing the rapid growth of the metaverse, Jiang had the idea to combine the two. He realized that folded paper materials can be both soft and hard, depending on how they are folded. By using folded paper-like structures in robots, they can easily adjust their level of softness or hardness as required.

Jiang mentions that their team's passion lies in further refining the current research achievements and their scientific goals. They are currently in the process of selecting suitable partners for commercialization and transforming their work into practical applications.

"Scientific research requires innovation and should have societal impact, making genuine contributions to society," Jiang says.

In the future, the research team will continue their efforts to enhance the perception of multiple senses and recreate a more complete sense of touch. They are working on using folded paper to create larger-scale experiences and interactions in bigger settings.

Jiang says: "For example, in a game where you need to ride a motorcycle, could we directly 'grow' a touchable motorcycle from the ground?"

Contact the writer at liyingxue@chinadaily.com.cn