The functional aesthetic of folding, self-similar interactions

Abstract

We discuss a field of research concerned with the discovery and realisation of folded patterns with kinetic properties, and the design of organic experience metaphors. Since the coining of the term Oribotics in 2003, a literal conjunction of the Japanese word ORU--to fold-- and bot--a contraction of robot--this practice-based-research has delivered six successive artworks that iteratively deal with the subject of a flower that folds closed, unfolds to open. This paper will discuss the primary aesthetic function of folding and unfolding, the importance of materials, and the process of critically addressing and refining the tangible interaction over successive years and generations of Oribots. We will conclude with the advances made in the 2010 generation.