Tree Sprouts and Insect Wings: “Miura Folding”

Function

Perhaps you’ve seen a science fiction movie or cartoon where a tiny folded panel rapidly unfolds and expands in outer space. You most likely witnessed “Miura-ori” in action, a folding technique devised by Professor Emeritus Koryo Miura of Tokyo University. Miura-ori makes it easy to fold and unfold objects quickly without increasing bulk. In our day-to-day lives, this technique is also used to fold portable maps. Since the discovery of Miura-ori, objects exhibiting the same folding pattern have also been observed numerous times in nature. For example, both insects’ wings and the young leaves inside of tree sprouts are folded in this manner. This folding technique, a product of the human mind, had in fact already existed in nature.

Functional Classification

Form/Organization/System:
Opening and closingSize changing
Efficiency(Energy Saving, Resource Saving, Light):
Efficient arrangement

Environmental Solution Classification

Related Literature

Mahadevan L. and Rica S. Science. 2005;310:1740.

Technical Application

Miura-ori is already in use in folding portable maps and pamphlets. It has also been applied to space technology, where it is used to expand two-dimensional structures and re-collapse them for storage. In addition to its use in folding two-dimensional panels, researchers are currently developing ways to use this technique to collapse and expand three-dimensional structures as well.

Products and Services

  • Portable maps, pamphlets, and two-dimensional Miuri-folding structures used in outer space.

Type of Business

Proposals of Applied Technology

Miura-ori as a human construction has already proven to be quite useful, and its applications are growing. But in nature, one can’t help but wonder how the folds in insect wings and leaves were created. Recent research reveals that these objects consist of a soft foundation with a thin membrane fixed on top. Their folds form automatically when force is applied in a particular way. Through further study of this mechanism, it may become possible to apply Miuri-ori without any manual folding. This may also allow the use of Miuri-ori on objects that are too small to fold by hand or machine.

Proposals of Applied Industry

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