Inkjet 4D Print: Self-folding Tessellated Origami Objects by Inkjet UV Printing
Koya Narumi, Kazuki Koyama, Kai Suto, Yuta Noma, Hiroki Sato, Tomohiro Tachi, Masaaki Sugimoto, Takeo Igarashi, and Yoshihiro Kawahara.
We propose Inkjet 4D Print, a self-folding fabrication method of 3D origami tessellations by printing 2D patterns on both sides of a heat-shrinkable base sheet, using a commercialized inkjet ultraviolet (UV) printer. Compared to the previous folding-based 4D printing approach using fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printers [An et al., Thermorph, CHI2018], our method has merits in (1) more than 1200 times higher resolution in terms of the number of self-foldable facets, (2) 2.8 times faster printing speed, and (3) optional full- color decoration. This paper describes the material selection, the folding mechanism, the heating condition, and the printing patterns to self-fold both known and freeform tessellations. We also evaluated the self-folding resolution, the printing and transformation speed, and the shape accuracy of our method. Finally, we demonstrated applications enabled by our self-foldable tessellated objects.
Publication
Press Release
東京大学 (in Japanese)
折紙シートが自動で望みの立体に ―インクジェットプリンタでパターンを印刷、加熱により自動変形―
UTokyo Focus (in English)
A whole new dimension for 3D printing: Self-folding origami sheets create 3D shapes quickly, cheaply and efficiently