After watching “Engineering With Origami“, my appreciation for the art of origami has grown. When I was younger, folding paper airplanes and fortune tellers was what I thought origami mainly was: nothing more than a fun hobby to entertain children. However, there is so much more to origami. It’s an art form as well as a way of prototyping for things like medical equipment. It’s so fascinating how paper folding can evolve and be used in engineering.
I was particularly shocked when Robert Lang showed the world’s smallest flapping paper bird. I was expecting it to be at least visible without a microscope (maybe the size of half a grain of rice?) but it turns out it’s not even visible to the naked eye. This really emphasizes the development of technology and how machines are capable of doing so much now. The robot surgery arm is another example of origami and technology working together.
Using origami in engineering is such an interesting twist and shows how creative people are, but the “traditional” paper folding still amazes me. It’s amazing how this cactus was crafted with only one sheet of paper. Moreover, the time it took to create it (7 years!) is crazy. The dedication Lang has towards his work is so inspiring and admirable.
While this video emphasizes the influence of origami, Robert Lang’s story also stuck out to me. The fact that he studied math and physics but does origami full-time now makes me think about how interconnected two vastly different paths can be, as well as how unpredictable the future is.
This folding table and music stand are examples of origami in my life. There are a few other types of music stands, one of which has a solid rectangular top that holds the music. That type of stand is not as compact as the one in the picture above; the folds in this music stand allows it to be more compact and portable.
The same goes for the folding table, which I use for classes. The desk I use regularly is positioned where my background in calls is not optimal, but with the folding table I get more desk space during zoom calls without having to redo the layout of my room. While it’s convenient, it’s a bit of a hassle to fold it up when I don’t have class.