2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Artistic Non-Inertial Tracer (ANT): an Educational Kit for a 3-Link Origami Slithering Robot
Presented at ME Division 5: Advancing Robotic and Mechanisms Education
The abundance of connections between art and engineering are opportunities to engage artistically inclined students who may not think of themselves as interested in robotics, and to inspire engineering-inclined students to express themselves artistically. This work presents a tool kit and lesson plan for a hands-on introductory robotics activity centering how art and engineering influence each other. The Artistic Non-Inertial Tracer (ANT) is a three-link robot made of origami, which contacts the ground through markers which trace patterns as it slithers around. The design is inspired by Purcell’s swimmer and is capable of forward, steering, backward, and diagonal motion. Using origami for the body highlights the influence of art on engineering, and the gait traces are a visually interesting output of the engineering. The kit uses inexpensive components totaling <$30/robot (servos, origami, and an Arduino) common in hobbyist communities so that learning how to use these components can empower further exploration of actuated art. Our associated lesson plan engages students in the assembly and control of ANT and contextualizes it within a broader overview of robot system components and the use of origami in engineering. We successfully ran the lesson as a 3-hour outreach workshop at a local arts organization.
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Alex McNeill Chi Germantown Friends School [biography]
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Eric Huang Peddie School [biography]
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Diedra Lynn Krieger University of Pennsylvania [biography]
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Cynthia Sung University of Pennsylvania [biography]
