Programmable Origami Folds Itself

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Becky Stern is a Content Creator at Autodesk/Instructables, and part time faculty at New York’s School of Visual Arts Products of Design grad program. Making and sharing are her two biggest passions, and she's created hundreds of free online DIY tutorials and videos, mostly about technology and its intersection with crafts. Find her @bekathwia on YouTube/Twitter/Instagram.

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@bekathwia

June 29th, 2010

Adam @ Make: Online posted up this incredible video of a self-folding surface developed by researchers at Harvard and MIT. Its tiny foil actuators expand or contract upon receiving electrical current, which bends the sheet into the desired shape. The magnets help lock in shapes when the planes get close enough.