Engineers from South Korea and the United States are developing conceptual origami wheels in collaboration with bio-robotics experts.
Four fully working wheels that can be fitted to different prototype vehicles took a team of engineers almost ten years to develop. The wheels vary in diameter from 46 to 80 cm (18 to 31 inches) and can accommodate the weight of a full-size car body, according to the Science Robotics research report.
These Hankook experimental wheel/tires have three layers and are built like an origami water bomb with a dense, flexible composite membrane. The rigid panels are clad with faceted aluminum panels for added structural strength and longevity.
The wheels have a minimum diameter of 46 cm in their basic state (19 inches). They become taller and thinner when compressed horizontally, and the inner stop plates add rigidity.
The wheels have been tested to withstand a load of 10 ±2 kilonewtons, and the transformation takes five seconds at a speed of one meter per second. The allowable payload mass is more than 50 times the mass of the wheel itself.
https://www.hotcars.com/new-origami-wheels-can-change-shape-in-motion/