  Locomotive robots that do not rely on electronics and/or electromagnetic
components will open up new perspectives and applications for robotics.
However, these robots usually involve complicated and tedious fabrication
processes, limiting their applications. Here, we develop an easy-to-fabricate
crawling robot by embedding simple control and actuation into origami-inspired
mechanisms through folding, eliminating the need for discrete electronics and
transducers. Our crawling robot locomotes through directional friction
propelled by an onboard origami self-sustained oscillator, which generates
periodic actuation from a single source of constant power. The crawling robot
is lightweight (~ 3.8 gram), ultra low-cost (~ US $1), nonmagnetic, and
electronic-free; it may enable practical applications in extreme environments,
e.g., large radiation or magnetic fields. The robot can be fabricated through a
monolithic origami-inspired folding-based method with universal materials,
i.e., sheet materials and conductive threads. This rapid design and fabrication
approach enables the programmable assembly of various mechanisms within this
manufacturing paradigm, laying the foundation for autonomous, untethered robots
without requiring electronics.
