WORLDTECHMIT unveils origami-based method for lightweight, load-bearing structures
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have devised an origami-based approach to building complex structures, one that can be cheaper to put together and use less material than some conventional methods, according to MIT News.
How the modular system is assembled
The approach streamlines the design of rigid, lightweight structural shells made from modular units. Each unit is cut from a flat sheet of material and then folded into its final form. Those units are then linked into a larger lattice using basic tools and an assembly sequence that leaves little room for error.
Stiffness and material savings
The team reports that its technique can produce structures many times stiffer than those built with certain other forms of structural origami, while needing roughly two-thirds of the material.
Scaling up to a room-sized sculpture
Beyond small prototypes, the researchers fabricated a room-sized folded aluminum sculpture. It was recently hung at the Boston Public Library, where it opened the annual Fab Lab Conference and Symposium as an exhibition.
Possible uses and the team behind the work
The modular method could support emergency shelters for disaster relief, since such shelters can be made rapidly, shipped as flat panels and set up on site after an earthquake or flood. It could also yield strong, lightweight parts for aircraft or modular robots, as well as architectural elements such as sound-dampening panels and building facades.
Riccardo Foschi of the University of Bologna, Rupert Maleczek of the University of Innsbruck and Tomohiro Tachi of the University of Tokyo co-authored the work with senior author Neil Gershenfeld, an MIT professor who directs the CBA. The research appears in the International Journal of Solids and Structures.
Open questions
- How the method performs in full-scale buildings beyond the prototype and sculpture has not been reported?