Slashdot Mirror

Better yet, does anybody know how he folded those things? They're amazing! It reminds me of the works of Buckminster Fuller, Kenneth Snelson, and Chuck Hoberman in that they have an underlying mathematical model that also exhibits "elegance and simplicity". I love this kind of art.

Is it just me or does their prototype look like an industrial strength Hoberman toy?

Assuming he had the slightest bit of business sense, Hoberman could have made plenty of money off licensing the concept -- probably quite a bit more than a bunch of plastic toys are likely to make. For example, this roof...

All without ass-raping fellow Americans.

Dammit, I SWEAR I hit preview. Here is an unfunked link to Mr. Hoberman's site.

Here are a few alternatives:

Zometools are like a bit like tinker-toys but allow a greater number angles at the hubs and are much better thought out. They also have a large collection of online lesson plans for educators that are free for the downloading.

Roger's connections and Mega Magz take the concept further by using ball barings as hubs and magnetic rods allowing for an even more flexible joint and rod system.

How about having children explore this kind of this cool construction technique, like the artist Ken Snelson.

Check out Chuck Hoberman's Expandagon construction toy where the parts expand and contract causing the construction to transform from one shape, to
another.

Chuck Hoberman's firm develops and builds "Unfolding Structures". These domes, spheres and other shapes can expand to something like 30 times their original volume.

Now they have toys too! These make great desk toys for work! I have the mini sphere that glows in the dark. Quite nifty!

Chuck Hoberman's firm develops and builds "Unfolding Structures". These domes, spheres and other shapes can expand to something like 30 times their original volume.

Now they have toys too! These make great desk toys for work! I have the mini sphere that glows in the dark. Quite nifty!

Chuck Hoberman's firm develops and builds "Unfolding Structures". These domes, spheres and other shapes can expand to something like 30 times their original volume.

Now they have toys too! These make great desk toys for work! I have the mini sphere that glows in the dark. Quite nifty!

Chuck Hoberman's firm develops and builds "Unfolding Structures". These domes, spheres and other shapes can expand to something like 30 times their original volume.

Now they have toys too! These make great desk toys for work! I have the mini sphere that glows in the dark. Quite nifty!

Chuck Hoberman's firm develops and builds "Unfolding Structures". These domes, spheres and other shapes can expand to something like 30 times their original volume.

Now they have toys too! These make great desk toys for work! I have the mini sphere that glows in the dark. Quite nifty!

actually, this is a pretty good point. i would be curious as to what exactly the patent is.

i would also be curious as to whether the patent is invalidated by prior art in the form of, say, Zaks. i'm not sure if anyone here remembers Zaks [late 80s/early 90s] but they were interlocking geometric thingies that flexed where they locked together in such a way that may or may not be similar to whatever "folding" is. I wish i still had my Zaks set, they were pretty cool.

seriously though, things like legos or zaks or "expandagons" are more or less what patents were invented for.. a nonobvious, specific _implementation_ of an idea (not an idea itself), which the company in question took the time to develop.. so i don't think we should be mad at these people for patenting this expandagon thing, unless they really did patent "folding" or something.
still i'm not going to buy any of these because i am not going to trust anything connected in any way with this GIF. Anything that says outright it's going to be fun usually isn't.. -_-

This is going to be excellent. The Hoberman sphere is very cool and looks good hanging in the living room, but doesn't allow for much interaction. This should be both interesting to look at and fun to play with. Also makes a great learning tool for geometric designs.

Too bad you can't order direct from the site. But I know a science store in my neighborhood that will likely carry them.

I'm excited. I haven't played with anything prebuilt like this for 20 years. Does anyone remember a set of translucent blue plastic triangles that snapped together to form pyramids and other multi-sided shapes? I wish I still had those.

They have them at the Store of Knowledge and similar places.
Basic set is $20... Advanced is 40 and Expert is 60. Here is the product info for the three sets.

Go see the Expandagon Construction System. (Blank page, unless you run Javascript! Bah! Argh! I was able to bypass it by looking at the source code and appending "hoberman.htm" to the URL, but not sure that's a generic solution. Give them the dickens for me! :) These should be fairly easy to adapt to self-assembly. The 6-legged triangle has a linkage that is awesomely tricky; it's stacked six levels high, and requires a metal rivet.

Nicholas Bodley // nbodley@world.std.com