Origami is yielding new applications in spacecraft, architecture, and medicine

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/origami-driving-futuristic-technologies-feature

by megamike • 3 years ago

93 26 3 years ago

nationalgeographic.com

neonate• 3 years ago

https://archive.ph/g4ID0

http://web.archive.org/web/20230125231813/https://www.nation...

avidiax• 3 years ago

Paper is effectively dimensionless on one dimension, yet folding allows it to attain that missing dimension. Origami is a kind of alchemy that is underappreciated. We think nothing of a paper shopping bag increasing in volume by 100x with a simple motion.

mc32• 3 years ago

I guess so but there are lots of things in nature we take for granted. It’s not particular to paper topology.

monkmartinez2• 3 years ago

Can you give some examples? I think about puffer fish, tree root systems and mycelium. I would love to read any research into these "nature inspired" topics as they relate to mechanical contraptions that can be repurposed by humans.

totetsu• 3 years ago

The NASA original printable of the star shade is better. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/project/space-origami-mak...

moffkalast• 3 years ago

Now that's neat.

kopos• 3 years ago

Thank you, kind stranger

JKCalhoun2• 3 years ago

On it... (thanks!)

turtlebits• 3 years ago

Looks very much like an origami "flasher", which doesn't require cutting.

optimalsolver• 3 years ago

Concept of a giant, origami space telescope using a Fresnel lens:

https://langorigami.com/article/eyeglass-telescope/

p932• 3 years ago

Briefly mentioned in the article is Erik Demaine (http://erikdemaine.org/).

You can find a lot of resources on his website among which lectures on the topic of Origami folding and algorithms. http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.849/fall20/lectures/

asplake• 3 years ago

From the same source (and also featured on the BBC’s Winterwatch last night), the folding of earwig wings: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/earwig-or...

JKCalhoun2• 3 years ago

The kayak mentioned in the article was new to me. Very cool. Checking out their site, it appears that, at least one of the kayaks, folds down to roughly 1/6 its "size" (looking at it from above in planform).

The bow and stern each fold in toward the center of the kayak — about 1/3 of the way each. Then the whole thing folds in half along the centerline.

SnooSux• 3 years ago

There have been a lot of attempts at foldable kayaks in recent years. From my understanding they are more fragile and don't do as well in shallow waters. Plus they're more expensive than standard ones for obvious reasons.

I was looking to buy one but it didn't make sense with where things are at now. But maybe in a couple years when construction and/or cost gets a little better.

monkmartinez2• 3 years ago

It makes more sense to build one yourself. They are made from corrugated plastic (google term: coroplast) which is very, very easy to work into useable form with basic hand tools. This fella on YT has a great channel to get the basics[1].

When the election was over, I went and collected a bunch of coroplast signs and have since turned them into all manner of things. My DIY ebike battery needed an enclosure as its a giant 13s10p from recycled laptop batteries. I folded up a old sign and used zipties to hold it together. Strapped it to the bike and Bob's your uncle... It works a treat!

[1] https://www.youtube.com/@DIYUSA/videos

locopati• 3 years ago

I have a Oru tandem folding kayak that can be configured solo. It handles shallows just fine. It might not be as stiff as a hardshell kayak but it can handle not too rough ocean (close to shore... i wouldn't try any big crossing in it because it has no spray skirt). Also it weighs about half as much as a hardshell kayak.

post_break• 3 years ago

They also should be in some hot water for their marketing: https://vimeo.com/690367009?embedded=true&source=video_title...

eggy2• 3 years ago

<hot water...> hehe

It's a good point though. Their advertising is like the smoking ads of yore.

I designed and built stitch-and-glue kayaks using Freehull and then Rhino to create the best 2D panel development I could at the time in the early 2000s. Watching the 3D kayak form as I stitched the 2D flat panels together was amazing.

These Oru kayaks also have a limited fold-unfold number of cycles.

cratermoon2• 3 years ago

The techniques for folding a very large antenna to fit into a small space were (are?) used to launch US intelligence-gathering satellites, like Trumpet[1]. For some examples of how they are folded, see https://spp.fas.org/military/program/sigint/shrouds.htm

1 https://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/trumpet.htm

patrickwalton• 3 years ago

The lab I used to work at is deep in origami-inspired engineering: https://www.compliantmechanisms.byu.edu/

They have resources for anyone wanting to learn more.

double0jimb0• 3 years ago

Great research and applied work.

Overselling these “discoveries” though: https://www.compliantmechanisms.byu.edu/about-developable-me...

All are parallel 4-bar or spherical 4-bars which have been known for centuries. Getting fancy with the shapes of the “bars” isn’t novel.

cratermoon2• 3 years ago

Heart valve replacement too, https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/transcatheter-ao...

p0pcult• 3 years ago

Serious "Three Body Problem" vibes here. The Chinese-language TV show (available to stream for free on YouTube) is surprisingly faithful to the novel, so far.

ezconnect• 3 years ago

When will we see origami inspired hands and fingers?

eggy2• 3 years ago

I have worked on deployable structures of scale using some of the principles of origami. The main obstacle to making successful structures that fold or deploy is that precision is very important, because once you have large joints in different planes things like deflection and fabrication tolerances become critical especially if you want to do more than a single unfold or deployment. A great book by Lang is "Twists Tilings and Tesselations" (2018) that goes over the mathematics of origami and folds. The Hoberman sphere works fine as a small toy, but imagine it built up to a sphere of size not in zero gravity and having to be open and closed several times. Engineering challenges that could lead to some pretty nifty deployable buildings on the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

aa-jv• 3 years ago

Origami is one of those subjects that hits the aesthetic button as well as the technical button .. it forms the roots of a means of manifesting "programmable matter" which is long overdue for a bit of crazy technological innovation.

Every now and then I go through a phase of "catching up with the state of the origami art" and it is always rewarding to see the progress made by academics and scientists alike .. I find Computational Origami utterly fascinating, personally:

https://langorigami.com/article/computational-origami/

Origami is yielding new applications in spacecraft, architecture, and medicine

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