Self-folding origami at any energy scale

Matthew B. Pinson, Menachem Stern, Alexandra Carruthers Ferrero, Thomas A. Witten, Elizabeth Chen and Arvind Murugan ()
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Matthew B. Pinson: Physics and the James Franck Institute, University of Chicago
Menachem Stern: Physics and the James Franck Institute, University of Chicago
Alexandra Carruthers Ferrero: Physics and the James Franck Institute, University of Chicago
Thomas A. Witten: Physics and the James Franck Institute, University of Chicago
Elizabeth Chen: SEAS (School of Engineering and Applied Sciences), Harvard University
Arvind Murugan: Physics and the James Franck Institute, University of Chicago

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Programmable stiff sheets with a single low-energy folding motion have been sought in fields ranging from the ancient art of origami to modern meta-materials research. Despite such attention, only two extreme classes of crease patterns are usually studied; special Miura-Ori-based zero-energy patterns, in which crease folding requires no sheet bending, and random patterns with high-energy folding, in which the sheet bends as much as creases fold. We present a physical approach that allows systematic exploration of the entire space of crease patterns as a function of the folding energy. Consequently, we uncover statistical results in origami, finding the entropy of crease patterns of given folding energy. Notably, we identify three classes of Mountain-Valley choices that have widely varying ‘typical’ folding energies. Our work opens up a wealth of experimentally relevant self-folding origami designs not reliant on Miura-Ori, the Kawasaki condition or any special symmetry in space.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15477

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