
Finding Practical Applications for Origami - pseudolus
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/theres-origami-revolution-industrial-design-180972019/
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layoutIfNeeded
The article talks about Robert J. Lang
([https://langorigami.com](https://langorigami.com)), but he deserves more
than a passing mention if we're talking about origami. He's a
physicist/mathematician at NASA, an AMS Fellow, and also one of the top
origamists in the world.

Here's a video showing his extraordinary origami insects:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYoTCssVyJU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYoTCssVyJU)

He wrote dozens of papers about the mathematics of origami over the years, and
last year he came out with a gorgeous book on the subject: Twists, Tilings,
and Tessellations: Mathematical Methods for Geometric Origami
([https://www.amazon.com/Twists-Tilings-Tessellations-
Mathemat...](https://www.amazon.com/Twists-Tilings-Tessellations-Mathematical-
Geometric/dp/1138563064))

He also has a bunch of origami books with "regular" animal models, but they
tend to be on the complex end of the spectrum, so they're not for beginner
origamists.

He also developed TreeMaker, which is a software tool for systematically
designing folding patterns from a model specification:
[https://langorigami.com/article/treemaker/](https://langorigami.com/article/treemaker/)
(some of his complex insect models are based on TreeMaker folding patterns)

~~~
mcphage
His previous book "Origami Design Secrets: Mathematical Methods for an Ancient
Art"
([https://www.amazon.com/dp/1568814364](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1568814364))
was also really, really interesting.

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whym
As someone interested in algorithms, Erik Demaine's work (and that of other
researchers in the domain) on computational origami is fascinating. It
basically boils down to, given a 3D shape, find a way to fold a 2D sheet to
reproduce it.

[https://www.csail.mit.edu/news/origami-
anything](https://www.csail.mit.edu/news/origami-anything)

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rrherr
Robby Kraft gave a wonderful talk, "Origami Software from Scratch", at Strange
Loop 2017:

[https://www.thestrangeloop.com/2017/origami-software-from-
sc...](https://www.thestrangeloop.com/2017/origami-software-from-scratch.html)

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basetop
There is a great documentary about origami called "Between the Folds" if
anyone is interested. It goes into the historical, cultural, practical,
mathematical, artistic and current aspects of origami.

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sitkack
I really enjoyed the Chuck Hoberman [1] show @ Le Laboratoire Cambridge [2].

Kenneth Snelson's Needle Tower [3] also shares some of the same design
elements.

[1] [http://www.hoberman.com/](http://www.hoberman.com/)

[2]
[https://www.lelaboratoirecambridge.com/22-10-degrees](https://www.lelaboratoirecambridge.com/22-10-degrees)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needle_Tower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needle_Tower)

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tzs
NOVA did an episode a couple years ago on this, season 44, episode 5, "The
Origami Revolution", which can be watched online here [1].

[1] [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/the-origami-
revolution](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/the-origami-revolution)

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eitland
Article has some nice examples from medical tweezers to folding of objects
that are going to space.

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benj111
Origami maps are a thing

[http://www.britishorigami.info/academic/mathematics/the-
miur...](http://www.britishorigami.info/academic/mathematics/the-miura-ori-
map/)

And TIL there's a British Origami Society!

