Engineers at North Carolina State University have developed a structure that can transform into various three-dimensional shapes on command, marking a breakthrough in shape-shifting technology.
The structure’s design, which has been compared to a traditional Chinese lantern, was unveiled in a recent study published in Nature Materials. The material’s ability to store and release energy across the formation of several stable shapes could inspire new approaches in robotics, adaptive filtration, and responsive material systems.
A Lantern That Comes to Life
The researchers started with a thin polymer sheet, cut into a diamond-shaped parallelogram. Evenly spaced slits were then added to form narrow ribbon patterns connected by solid strips at the top and bottom. When the ends were joined, the sheet folded into a hollow, spherical structure that resembled a paper lantern.
“This basic shape is, by itself, bistable,” said Jie Yin, one of the study’s authors and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NC State. “It’s stable in its lantern form, but when compressed, it suddenly snaps into a second stable shape that resembles a spinning top.”
When returning to its original form, the structure rapidly releases stored elastic energy, a process the researchers call snapping morphogenesis. By combining twisting and folding, the team produced a variety of additional shapes, including some with four stable states.
Controlling Motion With Magnetism
To enable remote control, the engineers applied a thin magnetic film to the lantern’s lower strip. An external magnetic field could then trigger the structure to twist or compress without direct contact.
In demonstrations, the magnetized lanterns functioned as gentle grippers, able to catch and release live fish unharmed. The devices also operated as fluid-control valves that opened and closed underwater, and as mechanisms that could quickly reopen a collapsed tube. Each of these applications relied on the rapid release of stored elastic energy.
Video footage of the device in operation shows the lanterns snapping and twisting with precise, lifelike motion. The structures almost appear to pulse or breathe, rather than move in a purely mechanical way.
Programming Shape and Energy
To control each shape’s behavior, the team created a mathematical model that connects the geometry of the lantern to stored elastic energy. This model lets researchers design configurations for specific stability and power output.
“This model allows us to program the shape we want to create, how stable it is, and how powerful it can be when stored potential energy is allowed to snap into kinetic energy,” said Yaoye Hong, the paper’s lead author and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.
Geometry serves as the primary means of control for this system. By modifying angles or folding patterns, engineers can precisely adjust how the structure stores and releases energy to form various shapes.
Shape-Morphing Machines
Each lantern can be reprogrammed and triggered remotely, making the design a potential building block for new 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 said.
Systems like these could be used as the foundation for adaptive robots capable of crawling, swimming, or grasping with magnetically controlled limbs. They could also be applied to practical devices, such as sensors and filters that unfold to adjust the flow of water.
A New Generation of Smart Materials
Using just a single sheet of polymer, the NC State team has shown how magnetism, geometry, and stored energy can work together to create motion that is adaptable, fast, and repeatable. The team’s research potentially lays the foundation for an all-new generation of adaptive machines.
The study, “Shape-Shifting ‘Chinese Lantern’ Structure Could Pave the Way for the Next Generation of Adaptive Machines,” appeared in Nature Materials on October 10, 2025.
Austin Burgess is a writer and researcher with a background in sales, marketing, and data analytics. He holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, along with a certification in Data Analytics. His work combines analytical training with a focus on emerging science, aerospace, and astronomical research.