Origami Concepts may help air Force Published June 16, 2016 By Laura McGowan 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio -- When one thinks about engineering, several things that come to mind: math, science, chemistry, pie charts, and mathematical formulas. But two Air Force Research Laboratory directorates are pioneering a change by adding origami to the equation. AFRL's Aerospace System's Directorate and the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate have found a way to optimize the symmetry of origami as a compliant mechanism as opposed to rigid body motion. Origami is a Japanese art of intricate paper folding to create 3-diminsional birds, animals and other items. The concept of making sculptures from a flat item is proving itself very instrumental to the Air Force. "Origami is a specific type of mechanism that consists of a sequence of rotations (folds) to regulate the shape and load transfer of the structure and can have several compliant modes associated with the folds and/or facets," said Dr. Gregory Reich, senior research engineer, Aerospace Systems Directorate, AFRL. The Air Force has shown an interest in using the origami idea using certain material properties that can be easily bent or folded mechanically, allowing mechanical deformation instead of transferring rigid motions or energy, said Dr. Phil Buskohl, mechanics/materials researcher, Soft Matter Materials Branch, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, AFRL. "The Air Force Office of Scientific Research funded laboratory research task to investigate how folding concepts from the art community of origami could impact engineering challenges in morphing, packaging and remote deployment," Buskohl said. Although there are benefits to having a compact device that eventually deploys at a set time once airborne or in space, Reich explained that weight and volume are two of the biggest challenges for the design of flight vehicles and the cargo they are required to hold. "Systems that required a large surface area in the deployed state, such as solar arrays and satellites for space applications, origami concepts create very compact configurations for transport," said Reich. "Origami folding can also reduce the number of actuators required for deployment, but regulating the degrees of freedom of the structure." While these origami designed concepts are not currently utilized operationally in the Air Force, the possibilities are great.