On the design of physical folded structures

Abstract

Folding as a subject of mathematical, computational, and engineering study is relatively young. Most results in this field are hard to apply in engineering practice because the use of physical materials to construct folded structures has not been fully considered nor adequately addressed. I propose a three-fold approach to the design of folded structures with physical consideration, separating for independent investigation (1),the computational complexity of basic folding paradigms, (2) the automated accommodation of facet material volume, and (3) the design of folded geometry under boundary constraints. These three topics are each necessary to create folded structures from physical materials and are closely related.