Shape-Shifting Lantern: A Breakthrough in Adaptive Materials
Engineers at North Carolina State University have unveiled a groundbreaking structure that can morph into multiple stable three-dimensional shapes on command. Drawing inspiration from a traditional Chinese lantern, the innovation marks a significant advance in shape-shifting technology and holds promise for the future of adaptive machines, robotics, and responsive materials. Published in Nature Materials, the study demonstrates how a simple polymer sheet can store energy, release it on cue, and reconfigure into varied geometries with remarkable speed and precision.
From Flat Sheet to Living Geometry
The process begins with a thin polymer sheet cut into a diamond-shaped parallelogram. Evenly spaced slits create narrow ribbon patterns connected by solid strips at the top and bottom. When the ends are joined, the sheet folds into a hollow, spherical form that resembles a paper lantern. “This basic shape is, by itself, bistable,” explains Jie Yin, a mechanical engineering professor at NC State and one of the study’s authors. “It’s stable in its lantern form, but when compressed, it snaps into a second stable shape that looks like a spinning top.”
As the lantern returns to its original form, it rapidly releases the stored elastic energy in a process the researchers term snapping morphogenesis. By combining twists and folds, the team produced additional shapes, including configurations with up to four stable states. This multistability is central to the device’s versatility, enabling rapid transitions between forms without external energy input beyond the initial trigger.
Remote Control Through Magnetism
To enable non-contact actuation, the researchers coated the lantern’s lower strip with a thin magnetic film. An external magnetic field can then induce twisting or compression, allowing the structure to morph remotely. Demonstrations demonstrated a range of practical actions: gentle grippers that could capture live fish without harm, underwater valves that open and close, and mechanisms that quickly re-expand a collapsed tube. Each function relies on the controlled, rapid release of stored elastic energy, highlighting the lantern’s potential as a modular actuation unit.
Programming Shape and Energy
The team’s capability to tailor each shape’s behavior rests on a mathematical model linking lantern geometry to stored elastic energy. This model lets researchers design configurations with specific stability profiles and power outputs. “This model lets us program the shape we want to create, how stable it is, and how powerful it can be when stored potential energy snaps into kinetic energy,” says Yaoye Hong, lead author and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. In essence, geometry drives function: adjusting angles and folding patterns enables precise control over energy storage and release, and the resulting shapes.
Towards Shape-Morphing Machines
Each lantern unit is reprogrammable and remotely triggerable, positioning it as a foundational element for future smart materials. “Moving forward, these lantern units can be assembled into 2D and 3D architectures for broad applications in shape-morphing mechanical metamaterials and robotics,” Yin notes. envisioned uses include adaptive robots capable of crawling, swimming, or grasping through magnetically controlled limbs. Other applications could involve sensors, filtration devices, and flow-control systems that unfold to adjust performance in real time.
A New Generation of Smart Materials
The study emphasizes multistability as a cornerstone of next-generation smart materials. By integrating physics with engineering, the researchers turn a seemingly simple lantern-like device into a versatile tool for advancing shape-morphing robotics. The NC State team demonstrates how magnetism, geometry, and stored energy can work together to produce rapid, repeatable motion from a single polymer sheet. The implications extend to adaptive machines capable of dynamic tasks in complex environments, from underwater exploration to soft robotics and responsive filtration systems.
The study, “Shape-Shifting ‘Chinese Lantern’ Structure Could Pave the Way for the Next Generation of Adaptive Machines,” was published in Nature Materials on October 10, 2025, signaling a potential shift in how engineers design responsive, energy-efficient systems for the next era of robotics and smart materials.
