Applications of Origami 1

Running Head: APPLICATIONS OF ORIGAMI

Real Life Applications of Origami

Thomas E. Ames

Glen Allen High School

 Applications of Origami 2

Introduction

Origami was introduced to Japan by Chinese monks around the year 105 A.D., and was

only for the wealthy as paper was a luxury. Origami is the art of paper folding and it gained

popularity as a toy and art form during the nineteenth century. By the 1930s Akira Yoshizawa

created a language of arrows and lines, allowing origami patterns to be shared across any

community. The standardization of the origami language accelerated the growth and popularity

of origami. Origami has also grown more and more complicated as mathematics has been

applied to it (Gould, 2008). Engineers and scientists have also found origami and its’ principles

useful for creating solutions to a wide variety of real world problems. The uses of origami and

misconception that origami is just for kids has lead me to research how origami is being used to

improve life and its potential in the future. Origami has been applied to real world problems for

over 40 years and there are many undiscovered possibilities, as time goes on Origami will gain

importance and the need to recognize its significance is growing. My research has found that

origami is being used by the medical field, to improve the safety of cars, and to improve space

travel.

Robert Lang a Physicist who grew up designing origami models and has given a TED

talk on origami’s applications has become one of the leading origami designers. His computer

program called TreeMaker creates crease patterns from a stick figure. In very complicated

figures TreeMaker can reduce the time needed to come up with a fold patter, then another

program called RefrenceFinder can create a fold sequence (Jensen, 2016). But origami designers

still must add finer details and refine the computers design. Lang says that “you wouldn’t think

that origami could be reduced to equations, but some parts of it can. But the artistic aspect will

never be captured in equations” (Jensen, 2016).

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This artistic aspect gets inspiration from nature of all places. Folding can be observed

throughout nature for example leaves are folded inside their buds and insect wings are folded

inside cocoons (Ball, 2010). Since folding increases surface area and decreases volume leaves

with folds excelled. One such leaf the hornbeam leaf looks very similar to the Miura-ori fold.

The Miura-ori fold is seen as the father of all origami applications since it was first used in 1996

to deploy a solar array from a Japanese satellite (Hoi, 2016). It is made by alternating mountain

and valley folds that create a high degree of compressibility and strength. This makes the Miura

fold very useful in space where storage space is at a premium. The Miura-ori fold can make

paper a pretty flimsy material into a quite strong material. There are many different variations to

the Miura-ori fold that allow for different mechanical properties, like increased stiffness. One

such example of the Miura-ori fold’s flexibility is putting what’s called a “pop through defect”

which prevents the structure from compressing. This would allow the Miura-ori fold to be used

in situations that require on the fly changes to their mechanical properties (Itai, 2014).

Medical

Origami is very useful in the medical field. One such application has been pioneered by

researchers at BYU where they have designed new surgical clamps using principles of origami to

reduce their size. The new clamps can fit through an incision of 3mm due to the ability of

origami to decrease the need for multiple joints and wires needed to open and close the tool

(Hollingshead, 2016). The BYU researchers see these smaller and smaller tools as the future of

surgery allowing surgeons “one day manipulating things as small as nerves” (Hollingshead,

2016).

Origami DNA has so much potential to improve life in the future. Before scientists could

only manipulate 150 pairs of a DNA sequence. But Paul Rothemund found a way to fold a 7,000
 Applications of Origami 4

pair sequence from a virus into desired shapes (Sanderson, K., 2010). By folding the DNA

scientists are able to manipulate more complex DNA and the origami principles act as

scaffolding for the DNA building blocks. The tedious DNA engineering is very time consuming

Rothemund says that the advances in origami DNA is “like being able to bake a cake and not pay

attention to the ingredient ratios” (Sanderson, K., 2010). This technique has the possibility to

solve a problem scientists have been trying to solve for many years, how to make a synthetic leaf

that can turn water into hydrogen fuel (Sanderson, 2010).

Stents are made to open up problem areas in the body and having more flexible, smaller

stents allow for better and more effective stents. Stents are extremely useful for a wide variety of

treatments such as “For oesophageal and pancreato-biliary cancers stent placement has become

the most common form of treatment because these tumors are often inoperable at the time of

diagnosis and are not particularly responsive to radiotherapy or chemotherapy” (You &

Kuribayashi, 2003). With the invention of expandable metals these stents have improved since

they can be expanded and fit into smaller spaces. These expandable stents are made from wire

mesh and can be covered or uncovered, each have their problems. Uncovered stents lead to a

variety of problems like tumor in-growth while covered have a much lower force of friction

leading to slipping. The high costs of expandable stents also have limited their use. Researchers

have found a new and better way to make expandable stents by using origami. The origami stents

have a smaller entry diameter, don’t have slipping problems, have a reliable expansion, and are

easily adaptable to many different uses. Manufacturing origami stents is a challenge however

“chemical etching, controlled laser cutting and stamping” are all possible methods of production

(You & Kuribayashi, 2003).

Safety
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Origami crash boxes can be used in cars to increase their safety during a collision. Cars

normally use square or circular tubes in their bumpers to absorb some of the kinetic energy in the

event of a crash. By applying origami, the energy absorption of these tubes when used in car

bumpers can reduce the forces a driver experiences during a crash and potentially save lives (Ma,

2013). The tubes have engineered creases that will fold when a large enough force is applied

increasing the amount of kinetic energy that is changed to thermal energy. The origami beams

have “a new failure mode, referred to as the complete diamond mode, can be triggered, and both

over 50% increase in the mean crushing force and about 30% reduction in the peak force can be

achieved” (Ma, 2013). By introducing folds engineers can guide how the beam is crushed. The

traditional beams “require a great deal of energy to be crushed” while the origami beams can be

easily folded in a desired pattern that will have a “extensive material plastic deformation” and

thus higher energy absorption (Ma, 2013). The beams are folded from a two dimensional

material such as metal where the desired lines for creases have a reduced thickness allowing

buckling along the desired pattern (Yan et al., 2016).

Sandwich panels have also been found to have increased energy absorption. These panels

are comprised of two end pieces with a folded core with an accordion like structure in the

middle. Typical sandwich structures are made out of a honey comb design in the middle and

usually made of a foam with metal panels on the outside. They are mostly used in insulation and

aeronautics (Lebee A. & Sab K., 2010). New “foldcores” have been found to have some

advantages over the traditional honeycomb structures. For example, the foldcores allow for

ventilation. This prevents humidity from building up which can decrease the strength of the

structure (You Z, 2016). Sandwich structures have been proven to absorb more energy than

traditional equal mass single layer structures (Kivivali, 2017). By changing the fold pattern of the
 Applications of Origami 6

inside sandwich structure, the properties of the panels can be tailor made to a specific need.

These panels for example can be used by the military under their vehicle to help save lives in the

event of a bomb going off under their vehicle (Schenk, Guest, 2013).

Professors at BYU created a new bullet proof shield that folds down to be compact and

light weight. It is able to be unfolded and deployed in just 5 seconds. The traditional barriers

used by the police are unwieldy and tough to get into place. The new shields consist of 12 layers

of Kevlar and are only 55 pounds while the old shields are 100 pounds (Hollingshead,2017). The

shield can also stop a wide variety of common handgun calibers such as “9mm, .357 magnum

and. 44 magnum” (Hollingshead,2017). This application of origami is useful since the way it

improves life is so obvious.

Airbags have to deploy in split seconds in order to save lives. Without air bags in cars

thousands more would die each year in car accidents, so testing airbags is a necessity. However,

crashing cars just to see how an airbag performs is very costly while using computer models to

simulate the crash and deployment is much more cost effective. Engineers working for Mercedes

needed help to simulate flattening process, something their computer programs were unable to

do. With the help of Robert Lang and the algorithm “universal molecule” the problem was

solved. Lang had already developed this algorithm in his own work with flattening 3-D polygons

for different origami designs (Lang, 2018).

Researchers have also looked for ways to use soft-origami to more effectively pack air

bags so the open more reliably. Soft-origami can also be used in packing parachutes and tents

and the deployment of life rafts (Bruton, 2016). A common packing method is to compress the

material into the desired shape without any fold pattern as one would expect this can lead to

unpredictability to deployment and isn’t allowed in airbags. Two origami patterns the flasher and
 Applications of Origami 7

“umbrella” fold patterns are the best since they can be easily reconfigured to different heights

and can pack tightly into a cylinder. Although deployment time was equal to the traditional

method the deployment is more reliable (Bruton, 2016). As more origami patterns are tested in

airbag folding the time may decrease and improve the lifesaving ability of airbags.

Space

One of the first uses of Origami in the real world was in solar arrays on satellites. An

origami fold designed for a satellite call the Miura fold allows an 82 feet long array to be folded

to 9 feet in diameter. This fold was first used in 1995 and it is especially useful since the fold

allows the solar array to be deployed by pulling on both ends in one continuous motion (Landau,

2014). Before this fold satellites had to use a satellite that opened from one end only decreasing

the size of panels that could be used (Forbes, 2000). The ease at which the panels can be opened

cuts down on the need for complex machinery that would increase the weight of the project or

possibility for a malfunction. NASA sees this technology as one-day enabling power plants made

of multiple solar arrays, that require “no astronaut assembly” since the panels can simply unfold

(Landau, 2014).

Origami is being used to make robots finding value for its cost effectiveness, and its

utility. The traditional way of making robots such as just assembling the parts as opposed to

folding the parts from one sheet of material is much more expensive and time consuming. The

origami robots are made from a 2-D sheet from a material such as a laminate and folded into a 3-

D robot. Since “These robots also have the potential to be converted back to planar form” they

will be easy to store and cut down on the space needed to transport them (Onal, Wood, & Rus,

2011). This design technique can also cut down on weight since the folding allows for hollow

but strong structures. Researchers envision using these robots in the future for education, disaster
 Applications of Origami 8

relief, assisting those with decreased mobility, or in space where weight and storage will need to

be optimized. These robots could also be manufactured on a Nano scale or even larger allowing a

wide variety of uses (Onal, Tolley, Wood, & Rus, 2016).

Researchers at MIT and Harvard have also developed a robot that can unfold and deploy

by itself. Lead by Robert Wood they have designed joints that can fold when heated to a certain

temperature by electrical wires. The team can send electrical information to the 4-centimeter-

wide square structure and get it to fold into an airplane or boat. The joints are made from a nickel

and titanium alloy that returns to its initial shape when heated (Ball, 2010). A self-folding robot

that can crawl has already been made using these joints. The crawling robot is made of

composite material consisting of two layers of prestretched polystyrene, two layers of paper, and

New Types of Origami

Flexible batteries can be used to in a wide variety of technology. At Arizona State

University researchers have designed a battery that can be stretched to 150 percent of its original

shape and remain functional (Choi, 2015). The battery is a Lithium-ion battery that was made

using Kirigami, a type of origami that uses folding and cutting. Foldable batteries have been

made before but they are limited to their folded and unfolded shapes and have uneven surfaces

when folded. By using Kirigami professor Hanqing Jiang at Arizona State University has made

batteries that can fold, stretch and retain even surfaces after being stretched (Choi, 2015). The

battery can be used in smart watches and wearable technology. Wearable technology is greatly

limited by their bulky batteries. The kirigami battery when put under a heat test showed no

increase in heat while charging however the traditional bulky batteries heat increased (Song,

2015).
 Applications of Origami 9

All of the uses for origami I have described above are what is called rigid origami. Rigid

origami is origami made with un-stretchable material. Researchers have looked to nature to

“imagine that you have a piece of paper and you try to stretch it, and you store some energy

there. That stretching creates bistabilities” (Arrieta, 2018). The primary inspiration comes from

an insect of all places, more specifically from the Earwig’s wing. This insect can unfold its wings

with little needed energy to a size ten time larger than when they were folded. The wings have

two equilibrium points or points were the wings are stable and unmoving one point when the

wings are folded and one when they are unfolded. André Studart the co-author of the paper

“Bioinspired spring origami” describes these wings folding process like that of “the slap

bracelets, popular in the 1980s” (Hamers, 2018). What gives the Earwig’s wings this rare

property is that stretching and folding of the material. Researchers have named this type of

origami “spring” origami where the material can fold and unfold without the need for someone

of something actually fold it. Self-folding material have unending potential in self-folding heart

stents, satellite sails and much more (Arrieta, 2018).

Conclusion

Brian Trease a mechanical engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs said it best, "You

think of it as ancient art, but people are still inventing new things, enabled by mathematical

tools" (Landau, 2014). This quote has driven this paper as I want to prove that origami is much

more useful than most people know.

Research List

Arrieta, A. (2018). Origami folds of insect wing can help improve machine functions. Retrieved

from www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2018/Q1/origami-folds-of-insect-wing-can-

help-improve-machine-functions.html.
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Ball, P. (2010). Origami that folds itself. Retrieved from

https://www.nature.com/news/2010/100628/full/news.2010.317.html

Bruton, J. T. (2016). Packing Sheet Materials Into Cylinders and Prisms Using Origami-based

Approaches.

Choi, C.Q. (2015). Stretchy 'Origami Batteries' Could Power Smart Clothing. Retrieved from

https://www.livescience.com/51200-stretchy-batteries-power-wearable-electronics.html

Gould, L. (2008). Between The Folds. Retrieved from

Forbes, Peter. (2000) Folders find a new wrinkle. Retrieved from

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2000/nov/23/technology1

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/between-the-folds/history.html.

Hamers, L. (2018). Earwigs take origami to extremes to fold their wings. Retrieved from

www.sciencenews.org/article/earwigs-take-origami-extremes-fold-their-wings.

Hoi, A. (2016). Natural Origami. Retrieved from https://naturalorigami.wordpress.com/

Hollingshead, T. (2016). Tiny origami-inspired devices opening up new possibilities

for minimally-invasive surgery. Retrieved from https://news.byu.edu/news/tiny-origami-

inspired-devices-opening-new-possibilities-minimally-invasive-surgery

Hollingshead, T. (2017). BYU Engineers Built A Bulletproof Origami Shield To Protect Law

Enforcement. Retrieved from https://news.byu.edu/news/byu-researchers-built-bullet-

proof-origami-shield-protect-law-enforcement.

Itai, C. [Cornell University]. (2014 Aug. 19). Itai Cohen explains the physics of origami. [Video]

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQXKgG7tsII.

Jensen, B. (2007). Into the Fold. Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-

nature/into-the-fold-154535844/
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Kivivali, L. (2017). Return to the fold for super-strong structures. Retrieved from

atechxplore.com/news/2017-06-super-strong.html

Landau, E. (2014). Solar Power, Origami-Style. Retrieved from

https://www.nasa.gov/jpl/news/origami-style-solar-power-20140814.

Lang, R.J. (2018). Airbag Folding. Retrieved from http://www.langorigami.com/article/airbag-

folding

Lebee A, Sab K. 2010. Transverse shear stiffness of a chevron folded core used in sandwich

construction. Int. J. Solids Struct.

Onal, C.D., Tolley, D., Wood, R.J., and Rus, D. (2014). “Origami-inspired printed robots,”

Mechatronics, IEEE/ASME Transactions on, vol. PP, no. 99, pp. 1–8.

Onal, C.D., Wood, R.J. Rus, D. (2011). Towards printable robotics: Origami-inspired planar

fabrication of three-dimensional mechanisms. MIT Open Access Articles.

Schenk, M., Guest, S.D., (2013). Geometry of Miura-folded metamaterials. Proc. Natl. Acad.

Song, Z. et al. Kirigami-based stretchable lithium-ion batteries. Sci. Rep. 5, 10988 (2015). Sci.

U.S.A. 110,3276–3281.

Yan, Z., Zhang, F., Wang, J., Liu, F., Guo, X., Nan, K., … Rogers, J. A. (2016). Controlled

mechanical buckling for origami-inspired construction of 3D microstructures in advanced

materials. Advanced Functional Materials, 26(16), 2629–2639.

http://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201504901

You, Z. (2016). Composite Structure with Origami Core. OXFORD UNIV (UNITED

KINGDOM) OXFORD United Kingdom.

You, Z., Kuribayashi, K. (2003). A Novel Origami Stent. Retrieved from

http://www.organicorigami.com/thrackle/class/hon394/papers/OrigamiStent.pdf
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