Origami programmed

2010/07/01 Aulestiarte Lete, Izaro - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Programazioa

Click on the image to watch the video

Origamia is an art of Japanese origin that consists of bending sheets of paper and that allows to create with hands flowers, planes, ships or other paper structures. But, as you can see in the video above, there are already pages that double by themselves.

This is the result of a project recently presented by a team of researchers from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Aluminum actuators have been placed on the edges on a thin sheet of paper and when the electronic circuits embedded in the sheet supply electrical currents, responding to them, the paper contracts or expands. Once the programmed shape is obtained, the blade remains intact with very small magnets on the bent joints.

According to the researchers, this technology could also be used to create future ultra-flexible tripods, to apply them to solar panels that expand in space or to create a cup that fits a certain amount of water that is automatically thrown inside.