Development of Toroidal Origami Monotrack

—Circulation and Bending Mechanism of Closed Skin Along Bellows Folding Structure—

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a toroidal origami monotrack for circulating and bending of closed skin along origami bellows folding structure. Conventional whole skin drive methods achieve circulating motion, however, the mechanism to prevent occurring unexpected wrinkles with smooth forward motion and bending motion is unclear. Here, we introduced a mechanism to drive the skin along the bellows structure which friction on the edges is reduced by rollers. The proposed system may apply to robotic tasks where complete airtight is required, such as sterile rooms, sewage treatment rooms, and other extreme environments. The prototype track test showed the potential to realize a smooth closed skin drive locomotion.