Shape-recognizable origami sheet device with single walled carbon nanotube strain sensor

This article describes a shape-recognizable sheet device using origami structures with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) strain sensors. Recently, a sheet-like measurement system that is directly attached to an object has been attracting attention for obtaining the shape, motion, and deformation of the object as alternative systems with external cameras. However, previous sheet-like measurement systems are difficult to distinguish between the stretch and the bend of the object appropriately. Here we propose a sheet-like measurement system that can distinguish the stretch and the bend individually by using origami structures. We formed a strain sensor using SWCNTs that was deposited on a substrate to form a 5-7 nm thin film. By patterning the SWCNTs strain sensors, origami-based sheet devices were fabricated. We confirmed that our origami sheet device obtained the bending and stretching information separately by attaching the device to cylinders. We believe that the origami system could contribute to the observation of complex deformations such as artificial skin, human interface, and biomedical applications. [2020-0324]