Norigami Folding Machines for Complex 3D Shapes

Abstract

Creating complex 3D objects from a flat sheet of material using origami folding techniques has attracted attention in science and engineering. Here, we introduce the concept of “Norigami” that is a mixture of three Japanese words: “Nori” that means glue, “Ori” that means Folding, and “Kami”/“Gami” that means paper. Using traditional origami, spherical or other spatial object are very difficult to achieve by a robot due to the complexity of the movements involved. In Norigami complex 3D shapes can be achieved by a machine or robot mixing simple origami folding with pasting patterns. In the current work, a Norigami robot is designed and developed using Lego NXT technology in order to create a spherical object that can be mass produced.