Various plants are capable of comparably fastmovements due to so called motor cells able ofchanging their internal pressure causing the flower headto rotate towards the sun. This principle, known asheliotropism, can be adapted by assembling an array ofinflatable cells with highly flexible walls interconnectedby micro pumps and valves to facilitate a pressurechange between cells. Due to this internal pressurechange, the volume of specific cells will vary causingthe structure to deform and bend. By producing an arrayof a few cells thick but hundreds of cells long and wide,a plate that is able to change its shape can be created.The idea presented in this paper is to combine thefolding capability of the developed smart plate with theorigami principle of creating complex shapes from asingle sheet of material without the need of irreversiblecutting.
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