The surfaces innovated at USF can bend and flex with every small region capable of elastically changing its shape from flat to domed and then to saddle shaped. They can be used in products as diverse as containers, shielding, furniture, architectural elements, clothing, exercise equipment, children's toys, reconfigurable robotic systems such as claytronics, programmable matter, and digital clay. An important distinction is that shape-shifting surfaces are func-tional without any actuation. Shape-shifting surfaces include com-pliant mechanisms so a rich variety of passive behaviors can be de-signed into them without the inherent expense of large numbers of actuators and processors which would be immensely beneficial in the field of construction.
Image shows a unit cell of the shape shifting surface in tension.