Sarah Khan
Lab Report Analysis
Writing for Engineers
3/12/19
The article “Design Methodology for Constructing Multimaterial Origami Robots and Machines,” published in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, is a report written by Zhenishbek Zhakypov and Jamie Paik about improving the conventional robot design by developing a “systematic methodology for designing origami-based multimaterial machines and robots with multiple functionality” (2018). This report is made up of six sections (Abstract, Introduction, Robogami Design Methodology, Design of the Multigait Origami Robot Tribot, Experimental Results, and Conclusion and Discussion) and the report also includes references at the end. “Design Methodology for Constructing Multimaterial Origami Robots and Machines” is overall a persuasive lab report, providing facts, counter arguments, graphs and images to support the argument.
Although the title of the report briefly portrays what the lab will be about, it could be more specific in including the fact that it will be discussing how to improve an already weak, existing methodology. The abstract did a good job of summarizing every aspect of the lab report in a few sentences. This abstract is an informative one because it includes “The 6-g Tribot crawls with fixed steps in a closed loop, adjusts its vertical jumping height by power modulation, and overcomes obstacles of 45-mm height by side jumps” (Zhakypov & Paik, 2018), which gives the audience extra information on the results and what is to come later in the lab report. The introduction is informative and presents Zhakypov and Paik’s argument very well. The introduction includes the previous work already done about conventional robots, and gives the reader meanings to abbreviations used throughout the lab report, such as degrees-of-freedom (DoF), shape memory alloy (SMA), shape memory polymer (SMP), robogami (short for robotic origami), and even includes images comparing conventional and origami robot mechanical design approaches. The introduction includes their purpose when it states “We demonstrate applicability of our generalized methodology to the majority of robogamis presented in the literature, making it generic and extendable” (Zhakypov & Paik, 2018). They also give a preview of what’s to come when they say “This paper not only facilitates the design process of robogamis, but also leverages the development by filling gaps in the research field and invites potential contributors from diverse areas of research” (Zhakypov & Paik, 2018). The introduction even includes a short list of the contributions of Zhenishbek Zhakypov’s and Jamie Paik’s work. All of these aspects of the introduction demonstrate a strong argument being put forth by the authors, strengthening their argument and making their lab report that much persuasive.
The methodology section goes in depth with describing the procedure used in order to create the robotic origami prototype. Comparison between the conventional robot design and the robogami design is used very heavily throughout the report, but even more so in the methodology section. They even provide a table of “the all-inclusive comparison of the robogami mechanical design in terms of geometry, mechanisms, materials and discrete components, and fabrication process to the conventional robot design,” which “[summarizes] technologies and methods as well as challenges for both” (Zhakypov & Paik, 2018). This comparing, however, adds to the persuasiveness of the lab report. It highlights the flaws in the current design and proposes a better design. Throughout the lab report, the authors admit to certain limitations evident in their design, such as “unfolding 3-D shapes automatically to decomposed and fabrication-ready multilayer 2-D geometries” (Zhakypov & Paik, 2018), which they admit remains a challenge. Presenting these limitations makes the lab report even more persuasive because this makes the authors come across as honest and trustworthy. They also frequently state that they want to develop a design that is replicable and “applicable to numerous prototypes” (Zhakypov & Paik, 2018). The authors have very nice transitions between sections. For example, to transition from the methodology section to the actual design of Tribot, the multigait origami robot, the authors state “to demonstrate the implementation of the proposed methodology in detail, we next design a latest version of the origami robot Tribot from the ground-up, as a case study to follow the step-by-step guidelines in Fig. 4.” Figure 4 is shown below.
The authors then go on to describe Tribot by saying “Tribot is a multigait origami robot that crawls with fixed steps and jumps both vertically and to the sides” (Zhakypov & Paik, 2018). They split this design section into multiple subsections (Tribot’s Flexure Joints and Locomotion Mechanisms, Tribot’s Geometry and Multilayer Decomposition, Functional Material Components, Fabrication and Characterization, and Gait Controller Design) about Tribot. This design section also includes the mathematics used to control Tribot’s gaits, or movements, “Tribot’s gait patterns require specific sequences of activation of the folds by attaining set folding angles” (Zhakypov & Paik, 2018). The authors, taking certain conditions, like overheating, into consideration state, “to avoid overheating of the actuator, we limited the controller duty value output” (Zhakypov & Paik, 2018). Also, “[they] regulated the robot’s jumping height to avoid obstacles of different sizes” (Zhakypov & Paik, 2018). Then they experimentally tested and compared their results to the calculated model.
The results section of this lab report states the overall findings and uses graphs and images as evidence to back up their findings. The authors of this report chose to combine the conclusion and discussion into one section, which makes the report more concise because if they were written as separate sections, they wouldn’t be as strong, considering that they go hand in hand. The authors conclude that “This paper is a crucial step toward a generalized robogami design framework, encouraging creativity in the field and pushing its boundaries” (Zhakypov & Paik, 2018). The authors include a total of 59 references, which allows the reader to assume there was a lot of research put into this lab which makes the authors credible.
All in all, “Design Methodology for Constructing Multimaterial Origami Robots and Machines” is very persuasive in presenting the authors’ proposal for a replicable, applicable design for constructing robogamies. The authors present numerous graphs, images, facts, and methods that serve as evidence that this is a very persuasive lab report. The authors summarize everything they did in a concise manner that was pretty easy to follow because of all of the subsections included to divide information. Zhenishbek Zhakypov and Jamie Paik include limitations with their proposal as well as potential and evident challenges presented, which make them come off as honest and trustworthy. They also include what seems to be all of their references, a total of 59, which is a lot and leads the reader to believe they are reliable.
REFERENCES
Zhakypov, Z & Paik, J. (2018, January 10). Design methodology for constructing multimaterial
origami robots and machines. IEEE, 34, 155-165. doi:10.1109/TRO.2017.2775655
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