Origami-Inspired Haptics: A Literature Review

Origami, the art of paper folding, addresses traditionally conflicting requirements for designing both powerful and low-cost haptic interfaces. As of today, there are no comprehensive reviews that cover origami-inspired haptic actuation, sensing, design processes, and fabrication. To fill this void, this paper summarizes existing origami-inspired haptic technologies in terms of workspace, degrees of freedom (DoF), power consumption, control methods, sensing, and actuation. The paper also presents an iterative design process for pattern generation and origami-inspired haptic characterization. Using this design process, we demonstrate a case study that involves the design, development, and evaluation of a novel syringe haptic interface for dental simulation. Our main findings suggest that origami-inspired haptics need more mathematically optimized and versatile design, as well as novel materials that offer a room for embedded sensing and actuation.