Self-folding origami folds itself, so that you don't have to

We've always thought maybe we'd dedicate ourselves to learning cool things like origami and yo-yo tricks in our twilight years, but it's starting to look like we might not have to bother, after all. A team of researchers have created "programmable matter" -- essentially origami that folds itself. Made from paper that's edged with programmable actuators which cause it to 'fold itself,' its creators hypothesize that it could be used to make things like cups that adjust to the amount of liquid they contain, but really, does something like this need to justify its existence? Check out the video below, and hit up the source for a full read of the research.

[Measlesopolis Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:26PM]

NEAT-O

[Widgetech Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:26PM]

This looks expensive and paper is cheap as dead tree, so I think I will pass.

[Widgetech Posted Jul 4th 2010 12:42PM]

@Widgetech

LOL.

Random downranks ftw.

[Alexster404 Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:29PM]

How is this engadget worthy?..

[That guy 2 Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:35PM]

@Alexster404 Cause it's tech, and it's interesting, are people really judging if they'll buy it? Cmon it's for entertainment (just watching the video) no one said you were supposed to buy it

[Ithacus Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:37PM]

@Alexster404
How is it not? Last time I checked, Engadget is a technology blog, and this is a highlight on current research being done.

I think its pretty neat, but it is obviously only another weapon the robots will use against us when they gain power.

[ShadowSeeker Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:51PM]

@Ithacus "Last time I checked, Engadget is a technology blog, and this is a highlight on current research being done."
......Which is why they filed it under the Alt section -__-

[Whiternoise Posted Jun 29th 2010 9:01PM]

@Alexster404 Sure as hell makes a nice change from phone news all the time.

[satish Posted Jun 29th 2010 9:18PM]

@Alexster404 The question is are you engadget worthy?

[dark star Posted Jun 29th 2010 10:20PM]

@Alexster404
cause its Terminator 6!
rise of the paper!!

[salamander Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:34PM]

wow a real gadget rather than just hyper-marketed junk

[That guy 2 Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:36PM]

@salamander Junk that's not marketed*

[Spoony Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:35PM]

Will it blend?

[Console fanboy Posted Jun 29th 2010 9:11PM]

@Spoony U beat me to it

[wemustcontrolpeople Posted Jun 29th 2010 10:04PM]

@Console fanboy They need to make it so it clings to the blender blade. Self-folding paper: 1 Blender: 456

[Abe Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:36PM]

Laura June: Alt-Engadget Queen.

[DS1495 Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:38PM]

Title WIN.

[frits1te Posted Jun 30th 2010 12:55AM]

@DS1495
In Soviet Russia... You don't fold origami - ORIGAMI FOLDS YOU

[shishi Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:40PM]

Now if I only had a computer to read these news aloud for me... *yawnnn*

[samisax Posted Jun 29th 2010 9:40PM]

@shishi

you already do

[Ipwnnubletz Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:41PM]

Pssh, that's obviously stop motion photography.

[qgood11 Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:43PM]

Whoa.

[iucidium Posted Jun 29th 2010 8:51PM]

Transformer toys with this impemented...id buy

[Kombatmedik Posted Jun 29th 2010 9:30PM]

Make this roll itself into a joint and you'd sell billions of them.

[samisax Posted Jun 29th 2010 9:42PM]

@Kombatmedik

hahahaha yes!

[7r1ck13 Posted Jun 30th 2010 3:57AM]

@Kombatmedik

+420 for you..

[Graphical Mind Posted Jun 29th 2010 9:32PM]

That is so AWESOME!!!

[Bud92 Posted Jun 29th 2010 10:43PM]

Scary

[QChronoD Posted Jun 30th 2010 1:01AM]

@Eli Haj Until the software glitch and the pants try to fold while you're still wearing them.

[Wiggy Fuzz Posted Jun 30th 2010 4:11AM]

this is essentially version 0.1 of the t1000 from the future.

this tech will destroy us all.

[alap1983 Posted Jun 30th 2010 5:14AM]

Ahh... I can see Batman's Wings Design being peddled on the Streets... Memory Cloth for Sale.....

Awesome Tech!!

[incredibuyer Posted Jun 30th 2010 11:00AM]

Tiny actuators!

[Kristin Posted Jun 30th 2010 12:32PM]

My glass will never be half empty again??

[Geckomayhem Posted Jun 30th 2010 10:57PM]

My first thought was the sneakers that Marty McFly puts on in 2015 in Back to the Future 2. Nothing to do with folding, but the shoes do autobuckle and adjust themselves to fit.

Neato. ;)

[drkztan Posted Jul 1st 2010 5:35PM]

omg
i can only imagine the future robot vs. human gore...
little girl- oh mommy! look it's a kitty cat!
mom-no mary dont go near it!!!
little girl- moooom why is the kitty cat doing weird noises and having a seizure?? oh look! now it looks like one of those thingamaggigs that shoot... GUN yea its a gun now!!

------we never heard anything else from mary or her mother u.u------