Cultures find creative ways to make things, and paperwork is one of them. Its origins can be traced back to ancient China, where it flourished as other cultures generally adopted, including but not limited to the French paper-mâché. One of the popular creative practices that has greatly influenced the world is origami, the art of folding paper. We can closely associate origami with the culture of Japan, which also has roots in China and Europe.
Traditionally, we create origami by folding a piece of paper into the shape we want, without the need for gluing, tape or marking. Origami often included flowers, birds, and anything related to nature. The practice of Japanese artists involves strategically cutting the paper. So it just doesn't fold as we know it. However, it is becoming more popular thanks to the folds that we describe as the original form. Europe isn't shy about folding paper, as it's known for its unique napkin fold that flows a series of abstract patterns like origami.
For most of us, origami is a hobby or an artistic expression. In turn, engineers have learned to adapt origami as an invaluable modeling approach to real-world problems such as technology for space exploration. Origami allows us to bend, fold and stretch to create structures to overcome a spontaneous problem in engineering. Origami offers unique benefits due to its potential to change material forms without affecting volume and weight.
When we fold a material, we increase the usefulness and adaptability of the material, similar to how we can change origami from cane to frog. Studying folding techniques in origami allows us to make structures that fold and unfold from one form to another efficiently and effectively. Origami structures open us up to new solutions to design problems in architecture, industrial design, medicine and engineering, to name a few. We often think of origami as an art form, but we can't deny that it has revolutionized various disciplines to solve the tricky design problem like placing large objects in small spaces.
Origami in Space and Robotics
NASA spearheaded the creation of space technology that was somewhat inspired by origami. They believed it was provable to assemble large structures in a single rocket by applying origami to their designs. Origami can fold and compress materials to pack into the smallest possible volume. It allows us to organize single or multiple large objects to fit into a single rocket to accelerate building structures in space.
NASA's Starshade project aimed to bring a baseball diamond-sized space telescope into space that folds up to fit into a single rocket. Starshade unfolds to resemble a blooming flower as it transforms from an occult to a standalone telescope. It will make some observations and take pictures of exoplanets for NASA's Exoplanet Discovery Program. Once deployed, Starshade will allow scientists to look at planets around brighter stars.
The Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (PUFFER) is another project from NASA that draws a little bit of origami inspiration. It can reach smaller areas that other robots cannot reach. The PUFFER can fold up its body so that it can be opened into smaller and tighter spaces. It will help scientists study the topography that gives a better idea of our planet and other planets. Both NASA projects clearly demonstrate the versatility and functionality of origami-inspired structures, showing us more clearly that origami is more than just an art.
While robots can generally do things we cannot do, robots cannot have human instincts. Origami-inspired material folding enables a robot to move with precision and accuracy even in confined spaces, which are critical features in self-folding robots. The National Science Foundation has designed a solar array compressed to 9 feet but deployed to reach 82 feet in space, proving the viability of origami. Howell and his student design Oriceps, a surgical robot. Oriceps is a small surgical gripper that takes some inspiration from origami ideas called chompers.
Ichiro Hagiwara pioneered origami engineering and developed a printer prototype that could mass-produce origami structures. The origami printer successfully imitates complex origami structures using a sheet of paper. Hagiwara has developed an origami-inspired shock absorption for cars with an energy absorption rate of 40%. He also went on to design the lightest collapsible helmet and design collapsible drinking bottles. This creativity exemplifies origami and the expanded application of origami engineering. Origami offers us a new approach to creating structures with better strength, size and simplicity.
Origami redesigned the Face Mask
Richard Gordon defines origami as a piece of music in which the individual folds and, when joined, makes the paper sing. Origami can turn into a fluttering bird, a floating boat or a blooming flower. In the pandemic, Gordon is making an origami-inspired face mask. With the ongoing pandemic, mask designers have created face masks to better fit, function and even resonate with the wearer's fashion. When designed incorrectly, face masks create a gap around the nose and cheeks, providing less protection and an entry-exit point for the virus. Origami excels in closing this gap.
Gordon's Airgami has an intricate design that interlocks paper valleys to close the gap in the nose and checks. Airgami expands when pulled due to an auxetic material unlike rubber that shrinks when stretched. The mask stays flush on our face even when we are on the go. Thus it expands; increases the comfort of the user, especially in those with perennial rhinitis. Airgami's folds offer ease of breathing due to increased surface air passing through the mask. It is similar to venting through a pipe rather than a straw as it has larger filters than common N95s.
Origami makes us rethink mask design and it has been timely with the ongoing pandemic. An origami-inspired face mask is a cut above the regular one. It increases the breathability of face masks, especially in people with perineal nasal allergies and mask-wearing disorders. We can say that a few people try to find origami beautiful. It's ironic to say it's pretty weird, but origami can save a life.
