Microscale kirigami robot folds into 3D shapes and crawls

Physics

By | David Nutt , Cornell Chronicle

9/11/2024

More News from A&S

Ecologist, biogeochemist Emily Bernhardt to lead Cornell Atkinson

Ecology and evolutionary biology 3/20/2026

Cornell Chronicle

A striped caterpiller on a green leaf — Provided Cornell researchers have uncovered a new strategy milkweed uses to fight monarchs: upgrading the structure of its toxins.

Milkweed evolves ‘mind-blowing’ tactic to fight monarchs

Chemistry and Chemical Biology 3/20/2026

Cornell Chronicle

Two ships on blue water — Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael H. Lehman/U.S. Navy photo The guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen (DDG 82) escorts the merchant vessel Tomahawk through the Strait of Hormuz.

Escalation playbook: Why limited strikes rarely stay limited

History 3/20/2026

Cornell's central campus with lake beyond

Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures names 2026 faculty fellows

Government 3/20/2026

Cornell Chronicle

View all news

yello triangles with holes punched in them, all conntected, on a blue background — Provided The kirigami robot is a hexagonal tiling composed of approximately 100 silicon dioxide panels that are connected through more than 200 actuating hinges.

Provided Postdoctoral researcher Michael Reynolds, M.S. ‘17, Ph.D. ‘21 displays a silicon-on-insulator wafer that contains finished CMOS "brains."

Physics

Brains on board: Smart microrobots walk autonomously

9/21/2022 Cornell Chronicle

Physics

Laser jolts microscopic electronic robots into motion

8/26/2020 Cornell Chronicle

Provided This metamaterial robot, which can morph into different shapes, is the type of machine Cornell researchers hope to build at the microscale using a new design paradigm inspired by the operation of proteins and hummingbird beaks.

Physics

Hummingbird beak points the way to future micro machine design

8/18/2023 Cornell Chronicle

Related department or program

Related people

Itai Cohen

Josephson Family Professor

Carl Sagan Institute, Physics

Paul McEuen

John A. Newman Professor of Physical Science Emeritus

Physics