[light guitar music]
Narrator: What is origami?
Japanese art. Paper folding.
Decorative shapes.
It's ancient, restrictive,
and linear.
Then engineers came.
They see
mathematical principles,
geometrical laws,
and unlimited possibilities.
Origami becomes
an engineering tool
to transform 2D into 3D
and opens a new door
to brilliant innovations.
Origami's mathematical rules
translate to unique properties,
and in civil engineering
these properties have been
exploited to design
deployable structures.
At Georgia Tech,
professor Glaucio Paulino
and his research group
investigate
how structural engineering
can be used to translate
origami concepts into designs
that will provide
more stable, flexible,
and environmentally
friendly structures.
Professor Glaucio Paulino:
We are interested in origami
because of its natural
connection with engineering,
especially
structural engineering.
This is
the standard Miura pattern,
and depending
on the application,
we can have several variations.
For example,
here you can see
an origami bridge
that is deployable.
And we can use
this kind of machine
to print the Miura pattern
or any other type
of origami pattern
that we can pre-program
in the machine,
and then we can fold it.
Narrator: The same techniques
used to fold paper cranes
and "cootie catchers"
can now be used
to lift buildings,
support tunnels,
and assemble bridges.
And beyond civil engineering,
origami pushes the limits
even above the earth's surface.
Professor Glaucio Paulino:
You may have seen
the latest State of the Union
from President Barack Obama
where he indicated
that he wants us
to explore space.
Not just to visit,
but to stay.
In order to do that,
we need to deploy into space
structures that are lighter,
stronger, tougher, and safer.
And that is where origami
can play a major role.
Narrator:
Origami inspires innovation
in many fields of engineering,
from large, deployable
solar panels
to microscopic heart stints.
And now,
as strange as it sounds,
a simple piece of paper
and a lot of creativity
are helping to build
a better and brighter future
for human society.
