---
title: "New origami technique could help make shape-shifting buildings and robots"
description: "Researchers have developed a new \"zippered tube\" configuration that makes paper structures that are stiff enough to hold weight yet can fold flat for easy shipping and storage."
date: "2015-09-08"
modified: "2015-09-08"
authors:
  - name: "Hashem AL-ghaili"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/hashem_al-ghaili"
url: "https://futurism.com/new-origami-technique-could-help-make-shape-shifting-buildings-and-robots"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
---

# New origami technique could help make shape-shifting buildings and robots

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/735711.jpg>)

- Their method could be applied to other thin materials, such as plastic or metal, to transform structures from furniture to buildings to microscopic robots.
- The researchers use a particular origami technique called Miura-ori folding. They make precise, zigzag-folded strips of paper, then glue two strips together to make a tube. The zipper configuration works even with tubes that have different angles of folding. By combining tubes with different geometries, the researchers can make many different three-dimensional structures, such as a bridge, a canopy or a tower.
- Origami structures would be useful in many engineering and everyday applications, such as a robotic arm that could reach out and scrunch up, a construction crane that could fold to pick up or deliver a load, or pop-up furniture. Paulino sees particular potential for quick-assembling emergency shelters, bridges and other infrastructure in the wake of a natural disaster.

### Author social links  
[Facebook](<https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010193103090>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://de.linkedin.com/in/hashem-al-ghaili-1b30679b>)