Page 15 - My FlipBook

which consulted him when they wanted an algorithmic description of
how to fold car airbags into a dashboard. Airbags usually sit compactly
within a car’s body around the seats. When there’s a crash, the airbags
rapidly inflate with a gas and break through the car’s body to act as
cushions for the passengers. Different airbags have different shapes.
Spherical, oblong, and doughnut‑shaped airbags cushion in different
ways. Airbag designers wanted to use computer simulations to figure
out which folding patterns would work best for each shape. So the
company approached Lang. He had a computer algorithm for insect
origami patterns that he thought would work for their airbag simulation
program. They incorporated his algorithm into their program, and the
simulation worked.

TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY ORIGAMI ENGINEERING
Through the early work of Miura, Lang, and many other modern
origamists, the use of origami in science and technology gained
momentum. What makes folding especially important in engineering
is its ability to bend, stretch, and curve materials in ways that, at first
glance, seem impossible, allowing large objects to fit into small spaces
or transforming flat sheets into 3D shapes.
In 2012 and 2013, origami engineering got a big boost. The
National Science Foundation, a federal agency that funds scientific
research, awarded thirteen grants for research projects that focused
on what the foundation called Origami Design for Integration of
Self‑assembling Systems for Engineering Innovation (ODISSEI). Each
of these ODISSEI grants gave close to $2 million to cutting‑edge
research projects at universities and science facilities around the United
States. The funded projects included origami with non‑paper materials,
light‑activated folding, programmable folding, and folding so small that
it’s at a microscale.
One group of recipients came from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT). It included Professors Erik Demaine and Daniela Rus.

INSIDE THE FOLDS: FROM PAPER TO ROBOTS 25