Repelling-Screw Based Force Analysis of Origami Mechanisms

This paper provides an approach to model the reaction force of origami mechanisms when they are deformed. In this approach, an origami structure is taken as an equivalent redundantly actuated mechanism, making it possible to apply the forward-force analysis to calculating the reaction force of the origami structure. Theoretical background is provided in the framework of screw theory, where the repelling screw is introduced to integrate the resistive torques of folded creases into the reaction-force of the whole origami mechanism. Two representative origami structures are then selected to implement the developed modeling approach, as the widely used waterbomb base and the waterbomb-based integrated parallel mechanism. With the proposed kinematic equivalent, their reaction forces are obtained and validated, presenting a ground for force analysis of origami-inspired mechanisms.