Abstract
Recently, there has been interests in printed robots and paper electronics. Printing is an adequate manufacturing method for the mass production; robots manufactured by printing can be low cost, rapid creatable and easy to design. Paper is one of the smart materials with high water absorbency and strength; it is easily mass-produced at low cost. Many inexpensive and flexible devices were created in paper electronics. We propose paper mechatronics that merges printed robots and paper electronics. We used a commercial ink jet printer with water-based ink for self-folding of paper. The paper is folded automatically along the printed line to make the robot body. The paper robot is equipped with a printed electro-thermal actuator that consists of epoxy resin covered by conductive ink. The experimental paper robot showed self-folding in 15 minutes to form the body and demonstrated a locomotion at 6.5 mm per step.
