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The World's First Origami Folding Robot

Roland Piquepaille writes "Devin Balkcom, a Carnegie Mellon graduate student in robotics, has built the world's first origami-folding robot as the subject of his thesis. Origami, the geometry of paper folding, looks simple when you're a kid. But it's actually quite challenging to design a robot to do it. Movements are quite complex, and paper, because it is flexible, is difficult to be manipulated by a robot. This news release says that the project uses kinematics, the study of mechanisms, to determine how folding is done and how paper can be treated as a flexible and rigid material. You'll find more details and references in this overview, including some frames extracted from videos showing the robot at work." Balkcom's website has movies, information and a couple of academic papers.

22 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. on the plus side... by wo1verin3 · · Score: 5, Funny

    they can't patent this since prior art exists. The Bender unit far exceeds capabilities of the folding unit.

  2. Old Technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Text editors like vi have done folding a while ago. This must be one of those MS Robots that tout themselves as having this new innovation...and make it appear like nobody has EVER thought of it before.

    Seriously, though, the precision and delicate nature needed to fold paper makes this a great technical achievement.

  3. My printer manages by earthforce_1 · · Score: 4, Funny


    To bend fold and multilate paper with surprising regularity.

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    My rights don't need management.
  4. But is there a robot... by bairy · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...that can filter out those bloody AOL cds and put your coffee mug on them for you?

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    Get paid to search..It's geniune and
  5. Oooooooh. by DrEldarion · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now all we need are a pusher and shover bot and we'll be set!

  6. I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords by Maniakes · · Score: 2, Funny

    First they take over our water supply, then they develop the ability to fold thousands of paper cranes. And what better method than paper cranes to release billions of doses of LSD into our nation's reservoirs? Doesn't anyone watch movies anymore?

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    A legparnasom tele van angolnaval.
  7. But... by El-Kelvinator · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does it make origami boulders?
    http://www.origamiboulder.com/

  8. If it could lick stamps ... by Homerz · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... you could make a fortune using it as a slave "homeworker", sending out pyramid-scheme letters.

    1. Print -> Fold -> Lick -> Stamp
    2. Goto 1.

    A small step for robotics, a giant leap for Snail-mail spamming :)

  9. Anyone else read it wrong? by gareth6889 · · Score: 1, Funny

    When I read the title I though "how could you make a robot out of origami?" :)

  10. Mad magazine by spineboy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Excellent!.. I can use it to see the hidden joke on the back page of Mad magazine!

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    ..........FULL STOP.
  11. Here come ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    .. the Blade Runner references.

  12. Re:It'll be easy to please the gods now! by awing0 · · Score: 2, Funny

    More importantly, can it mass produce tin foil hats?

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    Cthulhu Saves.
  13. My how origami has evolved... by DroopyStonx · · Score: 2, Funny

    When I was a kid, we made things like cranes and ninja stars.

    Now they've come up with a way to fold paper into robot that folds clothes? Amazing!

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  14. Nexus-6 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    That robot better be able to fold unicorns.

    It's too bad she won't live, but then again, who does?

  15. Robots fold you! by yellowstone · · Score: 1, Funny
    In Soviet Russia.

    Sorry, I hadda do it.

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    150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for slashdot.sig (129323052 bytes).
  16. YES!!! by cryptochrome · · Score: 1, Funny

    In your face, Japan! Sure, you may go on and on about origami and robots, but some gaijin in a city you never even heard of beat you to the punch of putting them together in the real world!

    Best watch out. I kinda feel like writing an interactive virtual reality edutainment tea ceremony that would put the most refined of geishas to shame.

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    ---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?

  17. Re:Don't stop! by awing0 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just add water!!

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    Cthulhu Saves.
  18. In other news... by sreeram · · Score: 2, Funny

    The author was seen beating the sh*t out of the robot. It had folded his academic papers meant for publication.

  19. FAH by Sporkinum · · Score: 2, Funny

    How many Folding@Home work units does it do per day?

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    "He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
  20. Only one more year until by marinebane · · Score: 2, Funny

    Knot tieing robots!
    think of the possibilities
    i never have to tie nots in balloons again

  21. Re:those servers look sketchy... by Jeremi · · Score: 3, Funny
    They have more bandwidth than the whole of slashdot, especially with school on vacation. And the servers are likely to be a server farm. It is not going down easily.


    True, but if we all try really hard, maybe we can do it. C'mon everybody! Click! Reload! Click! Reload! Faster!

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    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  22. Re:Yes, but.... by OverlordQ · · Score: 2, Funny

    I got shits that look more like the WTC then those dollar bill tricks.

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