NASA's Shapeshifting Origami Robot Squeezes Where Others Can't

NASA may have equipped its Mars Curiosity rover with an impressive array of scientific instruments, but the robot attaché's size and $2.5-billion price tag give its operators ample reason to steer clear of terrain that could jeopardize its mission. Which is a shame, because much of Mars' craggy, cave-ridden, boulder-strewn landscape is so treacherous (planetary geologists literally call it chaos terrain), that big, expensive robots like Curiosity can't risk accessing it. That's why NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory built Puffer. Short for Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot, Puffer is the agency's latest origami-inspired device. JPL has experimented previously with collapsible solar panels based on the Japanese art of folding paper.