Magnetic Origami Cubes with Arduino?

[binarybat2020]

So this is going to be a little vague but it’s a pretty cool project so I’d appreciate any help or feedback I can get.

So basically I’m trying to make origami paper cubes that have magnets attached to each of it’s inner walls, and the Arduino will apply a current to the magnet which will change the strength of the magnet and cause the cube to either collapse or expand. There are many important factors that will affect the results of this project. I need to know what material to make cubes out of. The material has to be light and thin but also has to retain its shape and support its own weight. I don’t have a ton of experience with electromagnets so I was wondering where would be a good place to start. The magnets would have to be as light and thin as possible but would also have to have enough magnetic strength to cause the cubes to fold in or out when a current as flowing through it. A lot of this data can be found through experimentation and empirically but it would also be nice to know some general formulas that I would need to be able to calculate exactly how much current has to be applied to achieve these results. Does anybody have a good idea of what types of magnets to experiment with? I think having a good place to start with some hands on experimentation would be the best thing.

The cubes will be kinda like this except they will be controlled by magnets rather than you manually opening or closing it with your hands.

Here is an example of the closest thing I can find to this but instead of a single sheet it would be a couple of different sheets folding to make a cube. Hopefully my cubes can be a little faster than this. I hope this project make sense. Any feedback will be helpful thx.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNhE25GgwDM

[jremington]

Sounds like fun, but electromagnets need a lot of wire, and usually, a core of iron or magnetic material, in order to generate strong fields that extend over a useful range.

From the top photo, it seems doubtful that you could cram enough wire into the cube, and have it flatten as shown.

It is not clear what the operating principle is for the video. i suspect the wires heat the material, making it flexible and allowing it to fold in different ways, rather than acting as electromagnets. Edit: the paper linked under the video verifies this.

The actuators are soldered to the traces forming groups of actuators, as determined by the planning algorithm, to form a single power circuit. Thus to fold a shape, current is applied through one or more groups, heating all actuators in this phase through Joule heating until folds are complete and magnets engage. Then a second set of groups, or phase, is activated, a third, etc.

To continue with the electromagnet idea, experiment with some to see what sizes, amounts of wire, and power consumption are necessary to get the forces you need. There are plenty of tutorials on line and materials are simple: enameled magnet wire, a nail and a D size flashlight battery will get you started.

Wire and magnets can be salvaged from motorized toys. Find them for next to nothing at thrift shops.

Magnetic cubes are popular in robotics. Check out these smart cubes that self-assemble. https://alum.mit.edu/slice/m-blocks-robotic-cubes-assemble-themselves