Inspired by origami, this cube-based robot could one day serve as a reconfigurable lunar exploration and colonization vessel.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have created a “transformer bot” that uses origami- and kirigami-inspired cubes, driven by three active motors, to shape-shift into over 1,000 possible configurations.

The “transformer bot” created by the team uses 32 hollow plastic cubes, in its largest “Level 2” configuration, is capable of reconfiguring itself into more than 1,000 different shapes, while driven by just three servo motors — each under the control of an Adafruit ItsyBitsy nRF52840 Express microcontroller. By doing so, it can move in any direction and carry a load up to three times its own weight.

“We think these can be used as deployable, configurable space robots and habitats,” claims co-first author Antonio Di Lallo of the team’s creation. “It’s modular, so you can send it to space flat and assemble it as a shelter or as a habitat, and then disassemble it.”

See the video below and more on hackster.io. The team’s work has been published in the journal Nature Communications under open-access terms.