Origami, an ancient Japanese paper-folding art, can lead to some incredible three-dimensional paper structures. There are many different origami creations that you can make out of paper when you're bored and need something to do with your life, but what makes the origami cranes in this video so special is that they can move.
So what makes them able to move? Is it fancy robotics, or something simpler?
As it turns out, these origami cranes are dancing because there are programmable electromagnets set underneath the table, and small magnets are attached to the cranes' feet so that the electromagnets can have an impact on where the feet of the cranes go. This, in turn, causes the paper to contort, giving the illusion of dancing origami cranes.
The electromagnets are designed with a grid, similar to the Dance Dance Revolution video game, and by programming the electromagnet coils to pull in one direction or another, it will pull the feet in that direction too.
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OCT 07, 2015