Christopher Jagers

Friday, February 23, 2007

Folding Patterns

The top picture is the folding pattern for the final product below.  This article is from Susan Orlean, in the latest issue of the New Yorker: “The Origami Lab, Why a physicist dropped everything for paper folding”:

Some started to study paper folding mathematically; others, including Lang, began devising mathematical tools to help with designing, all of which enabled the development of increasingly complex folding techniques. In 1970, no one could figure out how to make a credible-looking origami spider, but soon folders could make not just spiders but spiders of any species, with any length of leg, and cicadas with wings, and sawyer beetles with horns. For centuries, origami patterns had at most thirty steps; now they could have hundreds. And as origami became more complex it also became more practical. Scientists began applying these folding techniques to anything — medical, electrical, optical, or nanotechnical devices, and even to strands of DNA — that had a fixed size and shape but needed to be packed tightly and in an orderly way.

Check out Robert Lang’s website. And check out this site for lots of background info.

posted by cjagers at 05:41pm