Princeton Student Researching Self-Folding Structure

Denisa Buzatu, a student at Princeton University, has a vision for a shape-shifting façade that would increase the environmental sustainability of buildings. For her senior thesis, Buzatu is designing and prototyping a structure that shades the façade of a building by folding and adapting its shape in response to sunlight.

She has taken advantage of wires that contract when current is applied and return to original shape when current is removed. The wires are placed on the edges of eight triangular faces, which are combined to form a seamless surface. By the use of a microcontroller the surface may be activated individually or in combination and can fold in a myriad of ways.

“It’s like electrical origami,” stated Buzatu. The flexible joints allow for the rigid panels to be positioned in most any configuration and can be composed of any material, such as acrylic or solar panels.

One possible application of this system would be to create a surface with solar panels and integrated sensors that monitor the quantity of sunlight hitting the building. The modules could flatten automatically during sunny periods to simultaneously collect energy and shade the building, then use part of the collected energy to fold away when cloudy.

Buzatu’s first prototype involved embedding the metal alloy wires into paper and manipulating them with a microcontroller. This was accomplished through mathematical modeling and simulation as well as physical models. The behavior of the metal alloy wires is difficult to model, so she focused on building and analyzing hardware implementations.

“I had to fail many times,” joked Buzatu, who started the project without much experience in robotics.