Y Origami?

Book excerpt: When origami met the worlds of design and engineering, both fields embraced the ancient art form, using its principles and practices to discover new problems and to generate inventive solutions. This book demonstrates the potential of folding to improve the way things work, simplify how products are produced, and make possible new objects otherwise impossible. The solar collector, the felt stool, and the surgery tool have all been influenced in some way by folding paper. The example section is organized to show the folded figure next to the product prototype that was inspired by that work of origami. We have included models made from an array of materials over a range of sizes. This includes everything from a microscopic mechanism to huge solar panels designed to unfold in outer space. Most entries are at the prototype phase—meaning that physical hardware has been built to demonstrate the concept, but that the examples are not necessarily available commercially. Y Origami? also includes brief learning activities related to paper folding, such as a discussion of Euler's formula, angular measurements, and developable surfaces, along with more advanced topics. Throughout the book many diagrams and photographs illustrate the advancing concepts and methods of origami as an art form and a problem-solving strategy.