Origami in the American Scientist

Millimeter-scale microflyers, called RoboBees, are assembled by folding. The scaffolding that performs the automated folding is shown in the design drawing in a later figure and video. (Image courtesy of Robert J. Wood.)

Tom Sullivan on the O-List this morning reports that the American Scientist has an article in the March/April issue that may be of interest to origami enthusiasts:

It highlights many self folding creations, some of which have been brought to attention here before. There is also an article an geometry that might be of interest to advance folders. -Tom

Non-members/non-subscribers need to pay a fee in order to view the contents.  But here's an abstract:

In the current trend toward miniaturization, the sizes in between “normal” and “microscopic” get a bit neglected. Wood discusses various methods that his group has developed to construct electromechanical devices with feature sizes in the millimeter range, which he calls the meso-scale. He particularly describes work on devices inspired by children’s pop-up books, where items are formed flat using laser cutting and then folded into 3D shapes. By sandwiching layers and using movable folds, Wood can create functional devices such as small flying robots, surgical instruments, or environmental sensors.

The article entitled The Challenge of Manufacturing Between Macro and Micro:

In the current trend toward miniaturization, the sizes in between “normal” and “microscopic” get a bit neglected. Wood discusses various methods that his group has developed to construct electromechanical devices with feature sizes in the millimeter range, which he calls the meso-scale. He particularly describes work on devices inspired by children’s pop-up books, where items are formed flat using laser cutting and then folded into 3D shapes. By sandwiching layers and using movable folds, Wood can create functional devices such as small flying robots, surgical instruments, or environmental sensors.