Since the early days of origami its importance in education and design were recognised and today is no different. Its principles are now key to a wide array of disciplines including architecture, art, engineering, robotics design, and medical solutions. This article will focus on the latter two, particularly in regard to design in space exploration and use training laparoscopic surgeons. But first:
A Somewhat Brief History:
Origami (originally known as Orikata) is the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, deriving its name from two Japanese words, Ori (folded) and Kami (paper). The first appearance of the artform in literature comes from a short poem by poet and novelist Ihara Saikaku in 1680, which references origami butterflies. This suggests that Origami likely has far older origins, especially as there is evidence of recreational folding of materials such as cloth or leather, from prior to the invention of paper in China around 105 A.D. (Buddhist monks are believed to have brought paper to Japan sometime in the sixth century). The discipline was initially reserved for the wealthy, due to the high cost of paper at the time, and as such Origami became a vital skill for aristocrats and high-ranking soldiers, but became more widespread as the cost of paper came down.
Surprisingly the Japanese were not responsible for the popularizing of paper-folding, instead it was the German educator Friedrich Froebel, who helped to spread the discipline around the world. Froebel developed an idea of education through play and social interaction for young children, which was the foundation of the kindergarten, and paperfolding was an integral part. Froebel’s techniques and folds differed from the Japanese methods, and were introduced into Japan in around 1880, the same time when the word Origami began to be used to describe the discipline of paper folding.
As the discipline became more widely known its importance in education became apparent, with Rudolf Steiner’s first Waldorf school, in Germany, emphasizing the importance of hands-on activities like origami, and with the Bauhaus school of design using paper folding as a means of training students in commercial design. Furthermore, Spanish author and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno (another individual significant in spreading origami’s popularity), used it as a metaphor for his discussions of science, religion, philosophy, and life.
Usage in space exploration:
NASA has been using origami in space exploration for many decades, with notable examples being the solar array wings on the ISS, the fan-folding solar array on the Mars Phoenix lander, and in the unfolding 18 mirror segments used in the James Webb telescope to give a 6.5 m diameter mirror. NASA regularly needs large, but not necessarily massive, structures and thus thin materials are often used. The mathematics behind origami allows these structures to be folded down so they can fit in rockets, and subsequently unfold in space, thus improving weight and spatial efficiency.
A recent NASA project utilising origami is the Starshade, which serves to address a major problem in exoplanet imaging. It is extremely difficult to directly observe small, rocky planets like Earth, which are close enough to their stars to potentially be home to liquid water. Detailed images cannot be obtained due to the faintness of the planet compared to its host star. Starshades would be positioned in front of telescopes to block some of this starlight, and allow for imaging of said exoplanets. This would broaden the range of exoplanets we could characterise and search for signs of life. These starshades would have to be large in diameter and hence an unfurling design has shown most promise (a video of the unfurling mechanism can be seen here). More research is currently being done into the designs of starshades, but expect to see them being launched alongside the next generation of space telescopes.
Usage in Laparoscopic Surgery:
Laparoscopic surgery (a.k.a. keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive procedure used to diagnose and treat conditions in the abdomen and pelvis. The surgeon makes small cuts in the skin and air is pumped in to improve visibility within the body, then a camera is put into the cut so images inside the abdomen can be recorded. If surgery is being done then additional cuts are made and surgical tools (such as forceps) are inserted into them, the surgery is then preformed using the camera to guide the surgeon. When finished the air is pumped out and the cuts are closed.
The benefits of this type of surgery are the recovery time, which is far faster than other types of surgery, due to minimal incisions being made. Mastery of laparoscopy requires improved hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness, and thus training is key. Studies have shown that even after 100 cases, surgeons still tend to speed up with subsequent patients, implying that they are still improving and becoming more efficient. Shortening this learning phase is key to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of this procedure, but no routine and effective training methods have been established, with experience and understanding being developed from books and videos as well as off-the-job suture and ligation training. The importance of standardised training was recognised in the US in 2008, when passing the FLS (Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery) was made a requirement.
Recent studies on training for laparoscopic surgery by constructing origami cranes using the laparoscopy set-up has shown improved FLS scores. Making the cranes requires movements similar to grasping, dissection, and pushing with proper force, which are all key to laparoscopy and cannot be improved by standard suturing training. Furthermore, crane training makes improvements in ability obvious, with the shape of the crane improving with practice. In another study, individuals with no experience of laparoscopic surgery initially took about an hour to construct a crane, but after 100 cases average time had levelled out at around 10 mins. This is a far faster improvement rate than seen in the conventional training methods and is also far cheaper.
It is thus no surprise that making origami cranes has become widely adopted as a laparoscopic training exercise.
Conclusions:
Despite originating many hundreds of years ago, origami still maintains its significance in today’s world. Its association with education remains, being used to train surgeons and learn about the universe, as well as many other applications, which would have made this article far too long. So next time you are folding a paper airplane, or making a chatterbox to fiddle with, take note of this discipline’s history and how it now pushes us forward into the future.