Raphael Thys
dimensional forms to shape some of the modern world’s most ambitious designs. The models shown here, many of which are still prototypes, demonstrate the exciting potential of future technologies. Not only are designs less expensive and faster to manufacture in two-
dimensional form, but folding also opens a new realm of scale, materials, and mechanical movement, with applications ranging from repairing our bodies to exploring outer space.
Space missions need structures that are lightweight and versatile, compact during transport, and large once deployed. Origami-inspired space tools have grown to include antennas,
The inner disk when deployed is much like a bicycle wheel: An outer truss is supported by spokes tensioned against a center hub. A motor unfurls a folded optical shield 65 feet in diameter.
Flying in tandem with a space telescope, the starshade would use thrusters to position itself 31,000 miles in front of it, covering a star that can blaze 10 billion times as bright as its exoplanets.
The exercise on this link allows you to test the basic principles of the design yourself.
One of the fields most advanced in developing origami-based designs, the biomedical industry leverages the art to make procedures as minimally invasive as possible. Applications include targeted drug delivery and implanting surgical structures deep inside the body.
“Deployable implants” allow compact shapes to be placed inside a fractured bone before they unfold into larger, load-bearing structures. Manufacturing the implants in a flat state also makes it possible to design surfaces that can promote bone regenera-
A flat shape made of six square panels is folded into a compact cube configuration and then, with minimally invasive surgery, is placed inside the fractured vertebra.
As a minuscule balloon is inflated, the cube expands to restore the height of the vertebra. The balloon is then removed.
Originally adopted by architects for aesthetic reasons, origami-based designs can also reduce energy demands and improve structural performance. Some are responsive to their environment, changing shape in reaction to light or acoustics.
Battling an environment of intense heat and blowing sand, two towers in the United Arab Emirates built in 2012 are each composed of 1,049 origami-like shading elements. The screens are responsive to sun exposure, opening in broad daylight to provide shade and conserve energy.
Each shading device is made of fiberglass mesh and weighs about 1.7 tons. Sun-tracking software controls the opening and closing sequence according to the sun’s position.
Compared with conventional robotics, origami designs, when manufactured in two dimensions and then assembled into three, can be both easier to store and more cost-efficient—all while supporting complex computational and sensing mechanisms.
Rigid robotic hands lack dexterity, but soft bots often lack strength. An origami skeleton allows this gripper to mold around fragile items without compromising brawn, lifting anything from a single broccoli floret to a hammer. It could someday work on a factory assembly line—or around the house.
The bell-shaped gripper has a foldable, silicone rubber skeleton based on an origami pattern that can shift between a spherical and a cylindrical shape. It’s wrapped in an airtight rubber skin.
Imagine a robot so small that thousands can be injected through the tip of a needle—aiding microsurgery, cleaning bacteria from surfaces, or exploring worlds at a new scale. Invisible to the naked eye, some can fold appendages, becoming 3D forms that then walk or swim.
More than one million robots—each less than 100 micrometers long—can be manufactured onto eight-inch disks. These microscopic robots (see penny size comparison) have detectors, power sources, and circuits that will enable them to sense, interact with, and control their local environment.
Robotic limbs are built around a flat microchip that acts as a brain. Powered by light, electrochemical reactions create stress and bend the base layer of the legs.
