Origami device captures deep-sea creatures with delicacy

RAD (rotary actuated dodecahedron), was developed by a team from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and the City University of New York's Baruch College. It is designed for midwater interaction using rotary-actuated folding polyhedrons to quickly and safely capture marine organisms such as jellyfish and octopuses. The device, described in Science Robotics, consists of five identical 3D-printed polymer "petals" that are attached to a series of rotating joints that link together to form a scaffold. The structure rotates at its joints and folds up into a hollow dodecahedron when a single motor applies a torque at the petals’ meeting point.

"We approach these animals as if they are works of art,” said David Gruber, Presidential Professor of Biology and Environmental Science at Baruch College and co-author of the study. “Would we cut pieces out of the Mona Lisa to study it? No - we'd use the most innovative tools available. These deep-sea organisms, some being thousands of years old, deserve to be treated with a similar gentleness when we're interacting with them."