Origami in "Picard"

The future of origami in space technology is secured:



Hat tip: Vee on the Origami Mailing List

Engineering with Origami

Hat tip:  Andrew Hans

Origami softening impact forces?

Hat tip Morigami:

Scientists develop a metamaterial that can completely dissipate the force from an impact–and even turn it into a counterforce.
Scientists at the University of Washington have created a new shock absorption metamaterial that uses origami to completely absorb a hard impact and transform that crushing force into a gentle pull. The findings have potential implications in everything, from delivering packages via drones to landing spaceships.

According to one of the research authors—UW associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics Jinkyu Yang—”if you were wearing a football helmet made of this material and something hit the helmet, you’d never feel that hit on your head.” In fact, by the time the impact energy reaches you, he says, it has been transformed from a crushing push to a light pull.
When you see it in action, it looks like magic. The idea of using a shape that can transform pushing forces into pulling forces is impossibly counterintuitive—something the researchers admit themselves.
The secret is the metamaterial’s geometry. “Metamaterials are like Lego,” Yang said in a press release. “You can make all types of structures by repeating a single type of building block, or unit cell as we call it. Depending on how you design your unit cell, you can create a material with unique mechanical properties that are unprecedented in nature.”
The UW research—published today in the journal Science Advances—got inspiration from origami to create 20 of these flexible unit cells, using a laser-cutting plotter to create physical models of a geometric shape they developed using computer simulations.
Then they put together the segments in a long truss. Each of the segments in the metamaterial then acts as a “folding crease,” which has the capability of softening an impact as it travels through the truss. In fact, as the shock advances through each segment, the segment before it bounces part of the energy back, pulling the next segment until the chain eventually dissipates the push force generating a soft draw instead.
Scientists then tested their initial computer models with the physical model by applying a compression force, recording the behavior using six GoPro cameras filming in slow-motion. And indeed, it worked exactly as the simulation predicted, turning compression forces into pull forces.
The way the unit cells fold is crucial, according to research coauthor Yasuhiro Miyazawa, who is completing an aeronautics and astronautics doctorate at the University of Washington: “[The origami] unit cell softens the force it feels when someone pushes on it, and it accentuates the tension that follows as the cell returns to its normal shape.”
The applications are countless: “Impact is a problem we encounter on a daily basis, and our system provides a completely new approach to reducing its effects,” Yang said.

Breaking Standard Laws of Origami

National Geographic:

A group of researchers led by Andres Arrieta, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, recently published a paper in Science about how earwigs’ wings work. When the team tried to model the unfolding mechanism using a traditional understanding of origami-like folding, it did not compute. The wings simply do not fold like typical well-known materials (think paper) at a single crease.
Instead, Arrieta’s team found that the wings work by possessing spring-like folds, which have two stable configurations. He likens them to slap bracelets, which can stably switch between two different orientations.
Julia Deiters, a researcher at Germany’s University of Duisburg-Essen who recently co-authored a study on the topic, says the wings are also stabilized by folds that are bended, as opposed to straight. These arrange mechanical forces in a way that enables the wings to “lock,” either when they are completely open or folded up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arrieta and others hope to use their insights into the wings’ mechanisms to create mimics in the future. “The wing gave us the recipe to make similar manmade materials,” he says. Such materials could be an invaluable tool with potential applications for making things like quick-assembly tents, portable solar panels, and compact electronics.

Oru Kayak

My old boss sent me this.

Website is here.

How Origami is Inspiring Scientific Creativity

Houston, We Have Paper....

10 years ago...






 Try folding one yourself.

Flasher aboard the International Space Station

Posted back in April, there's a demonstration of Jeremy Shafer's flasher aboard the ISS




Hat tip:  Joel Stern

Origami-Inspired Artificial Muscle

Origami-Inspired Artificial Muscles from Wyss Institute on Vimeo.

Video caption:

Artificial muscles could make soft robots safer and stronger. Researchers at the Wyss Institute, Harvard SEAS, and MIT CSAIL have developed a novel design approach for origami-inspired artificial muscles, capable of lifting 1000x its own weight.
The muscles are made of a compressible skeleton and air or fluid medium encased in a flexible skin, and are powered by pressure difference. The muscle motions are programmed based on the structural geometry of the skeleton. Multi-directional motions can also be programmed into the material. Artificial muscles can also grip, lift, and twist objects.
A variety of materials and fabrication methods can be used to create low-cost artificial muscles. These artificial muscles are fast, light-weight, and powerful, and could be used for miniature medical devices, deployable structures, or wearable robotics.
For more information, please visit: wyss.harvard.edu/artificial-muscles-give-soft-robots-superpowers/

Hat tip:  Sanja Srbljinovic-Cucek

Artificial Muscle

LATimes

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University have developed a variety of origami-inspired artificial muscles that can lift up to a thousand times their own weight — and yet be dexterous enough to grip and raise a delicate flower. 

The devices, described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offer a new way to give soft robots super-strength, which could be used everywhere from inside our bodies to outer space.

Hat tip:  Joseph Wu Inc.

Origami Collapsible Hand Bag

Folding Chairs

Yanko Design:

We enjoy seeing how far a designer can push furniture to be portable and innovative at the same time. In a way, the Flux Chair is quite similar to the Ollie Chair since they both can compress down to a flat pack, making them a dream to store and very easy to transport/carry around. The impressive thing however about the Flux chair is its ability to do so A. in a way that makes carrying even easier because your folded chair is smaller as well as lighter, and B. using just one material that isn’t just flexible when you need it, but rigid enough to support the body’s weight too.
The beauty of Flux is in the way it transforms from a large polypropylene envelope (briefcase sized) to a fully functioning chair that takes all of 3 minutes to set up. Using curved folds to make the chair structurally sound, the designers have managed to strike a rather lovely blend between structural integrity, and a unique aesthetic that doesn’t look anything like something you would imagine would be achievable through folding (Yves Behar’s Kada Stool, for example). In fact it reminds one of an origami version of the Pantone Chair, if you ask me, personally! The curves not only give the Flux chair its incredible load-bearing abilities, they even make the chair comfortable to sit on, as the curves on the chair match those on the sitter’s bodies.

On sale for $129.99

7 Origami Inspired Inventions

Machine-folded origami hat

Great Big Story

Toot from Dr. Lang, via Origami-L:

I don’t know if it’s really a great BIG story, but CNN did a nice little story on my folding:


http://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/folded-universe-the-astonishing-beauty-of-origami/


A few errata:


(1) There’s a few errors in their chronology on that page. I’ve sent them corrections. Until then, FAKE NEWS! Sad!


(2) At one point, I seem to be saying I invented an airbag. Which is wrong. (I contributed to an airbag algorithm.) I expect the Senate to investigate.


(3) I borrowed a line from Marty Demaine in BTF at one point. Marty, your royalty check is in the mail.


Other than all that, I hope you like it.

CNN:

The Aegis of Origami

Portable shield inspired by origami:

The device, developed by Brigham Young University—a private research university in Utah—is a foldable kevlar shield designed to protect officers in high-risk situations. The foldable shield weighs only a little bit more than a suitcase and is made from 12 layers of bullet-proof kevlar. Its folding design was also inspired by origami.

Despite its low weight, the shield is capable of stopping a .44 Magnum, 9mm, and .355 Magnum, according to reports. We will keep you posted on whether or not departments start implementing this device. 

Going from medieval to state of the art through the ancient art of origami technology:

When mechanical engineering professor Larry Howell began work on a new ballistic shield, police officers told him that their current gear was “kind of medieval.”

“Most of them are still basically just … a big chunk of steel with handles on it, and so they tend to be very heavy,” he tells The Christian Science Monitor in a phone interview. Many of them weigh nearly 100 pounds.

But a new folding kevlar shield, developed by Professor Howell, his colleague Terri Bateman, and other faculty and graduate students at Brigham Young University, weighs 55 pounds, fits in the trunk of a car, unfolds in seconds, and covers more than one officer. It can also take a hit from a .44 Magnum handgun without ripping or tipping over.

Together, these features could make the shield much better-suited to police work than current technology.

“It's easily transportable, and it provides protection for more than one officer,” says Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, after watching video of the shield in action. “So I think that if the test results hold up, this could be an important option for police departments to consider.”

The BYU team derived these advantages from an unlikely source. “Origami artists, over the centuries, had discovered interesting ways to achieve motion that we wouldn't have discovered using our traditional engineering approaches,” Howell explains.

His past work has used origami techniques to shrink NASA payloads and medical devices. Through discussions with federal agents and local police, “We realized that having a compact bulletproof barrier that's easy to transport, easy to stow, and then deploys very quickly, and is light, has a lot of benefits.”

“It seems kind of weird that you could go from origami … to something that's bulletproof,” Howell acknowledges. But by applying a Yoshimura fold pattern to a sheet with 12 layers of Kevlar – plus an aluminum core for stability – the researchers created a shield that can withstand hits from 9-millimeter, .357 Magnum, and .44 Magnum pistols.

A federal agent involved in the testing “said that it was revolutionary,” Howell remembers.

Origami Revolution on PBS

Haven't even sat down for time to watch this, yet; but the whole community has been buzzing about it.






According to Seth Friedman through "Google trends", searches are up 46% on origami since the NOVA airing.

Polygons crowdfunding

Polygons takes cues from the folding magic of origami, and comes in two sizes; one measures out ¼, ½, ¾, and 1 teaspoon and the other measures out ½, 1, 1½, and 2 tablespoons. In addition to saving space in a drawer (every bit helps in tiny kitchens), the flat design makes it easier to clean and transfer sticky ingredients from the spoon into a mixing bowl. 

"When creating Polygons, we decided to engineer the spoon with a flat design because it mimics the human hand," says Rahul Agarwal, designer and CEO of Polygons. "When your hand is not in use, it lays flat. But when you want to hold a heap of sand, or some water, you cup your hand to create some volume, depending on how much you want to hold—that is exactly how Polygons works." 

Buy the Polygons measuring spoon set for $10 here.

stomach-repairing origami robot made of meat?!

Want to swallow an origami robot for your health?

On Thursday, researchers at MIT revealed the origami meat robot that they designed to patch stomach wounds, deliver medicine, and remove dangerous foreign objects that patients may have accidentally swallowed. In early simulations with pig esophagus and gut tissue, the robot traveled down to the stomach in an ice capsule that melted along the way. Once there, the robot unfolded and could be steered around the stomach using external magnets. In a demonstration video provided by MIT News, the researchers show that the robot can move a button battery in their simulation stomach. The researchers presented their robot this week at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation.
“It’s really exciting to see our small origami robots doing something with potential important applications to health care,” said Daniela Rus, lead researcher on the study and director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
The meat robot builds on other origami robots the lab has made. It consists of two layers: one of a biodegradable shrink wrap called Biolefin and another of dried pig intestines used in sausage casings. When sections of Biolefin are warmed up, that layer contracts and, based on the folds and slits in the pork layer, the whole robot folds. This contracting and folding action fuels a “stick-slip” motion, whereby a robot appendage sticks to the stomach surface via friction, but then slips free when a new area warms, the robot folds, and its weight shifts.
Embedded in the center of one of the robot’s accordion folds is a tiny magnet that allows the robot to be steered using magnetic fields outside the body.

Starshade