machine

971: Bro-bot 2019

| wonko

The last few months a lot of my free time has been consumed by supporting a team of students as they prepare for a robotics competition:

brobot - Robot by Shunsuke Inoue

Yesterday was the Queensland finals of the First Technology Challenge (FTC), and our team did really well. They designed, built and programmed a robot, affectionately known as “BROBOT”, coming second in the state.

I could not be prouder of the team, so decided they needed a souvenir. This is the cutest little robot I could find, designed by Shunsuke Inoue, and I am astonished I have not blogged this fold before, it is such a fun fold.

scale - Robot by Shunsuke Inoue

You take a square, divide it into 1/16th grid, then boxpleat the bjebus out of it to tease antennae, eyes, arms, legs and a lovely little stubby body.

I hope they like their award.

Showing Off

| wonko

Our school has large display cases. I have kilograms of origami at home, in showboxes, tidy tubs, cupboards, garbage bags and display cases … one thing led to another:

library display 2019

My aim with this display to to show the variety of forms modern Origami takes, from traditional, figurative, geometry and abstract. Additionally I have included 14 different dragons, a current fascination – can you find them all?

I feature some of my favourite pieces, designed by legends such as Satoshi Kamiya, Robert Lang, Eric Domaine, Francis Ow, Ronald Koh, Kade Chan, Eric Joisel, Brian Chan, Jason Ku and more.

Continue reading →

945: David Nudd’s Box-Pleat Sword

| wonko

As part of a weekly challenge on the Sydney Origami Inc facebook page, I had a go at David Nudd’s box-pleated sword:

david nudd's sword

A basic 16×16 grid has a few extra short diagonals layed in before a collapse that is fairly straight forward to give the basic morphology of the base.

david nudd's sword CP
Continue reading →

927: It’s All About the Base

| wonko

One approach to paper folding starts with a “base” – a form with flaps and general morphology that suits an end goal.

A well-designed base is a thing of beauty, and a flexible tool.

This base, a mutated fish base has really useful properties as demonstrated by these two wildly different folds, both designed by Jose Ma Chaquet from Spain. Continue reading →

924: Crawler Excavator (aka. A Diggosaur )

| wonko

Often Origami books are organised such that the simpler models are at the front, more challenging folds towards the back. “Origami Pro 3 – Machine Origami” by members of the Korean Origami Association is organised such and this model was the last one, designed by Jang Yong Ik:

Starting with a 60cm square of thin crisp Kraft paper, you begin tiny grids, then collapse the edges only, then form a preliminary base, then bird base, then begins a layer management exercise from hell as we thin down and divide the points to make the bits that would later be details. Continue reading →

923: Concrete Mixer (aka. A Mixosaur)

| wonko

At the risk of a family intervention, I present to you my first fold of Yoo Tae Yong’s “truck mixer” from the origami book “Origami Pro 3 – Machinery Origami” from a group of members of the Korean Origami Association:

From a square, via a very useful base, we arrive at what eventually looks mechanical but up until you begin squaring things up could also be an animal. This furthers my theory that heavy machinery is the living embodiment of once-thought extinct dinosaurs. More work to be done here. Continue reading →

912: (362/365) Abandon Ship!

| wonko

As the year 2017 swiftly comes to an end, after seemingly being in a hurry to do so all year, it is almost time to abandon ship:

Time for one last waltz, one more visit to the buffet, perhaps a cigar on the poop deck then it is lifejackets on and over the side into the icy uncertainty of the new year. Continue reading →

898: (348/365) The Droid You Were Looking For

| wonko

Now I am as much a Star Trek fan as the next one, and love a comedy sidekick movie plot device. It was interesting that the Star Wars franchise returned to the tried and true “quirky beeping droid” sidekick in “Force Awakens” and the BB8 droid seems a cute successor to the more limited R2 units (that they decided could fly in later/earlier messes of movies):

This is Martin Hunt’s Modular BB8 droid model. A torturous fold of many parts.

4 different modules combine to make a roughly spherical ball with a “head” that can be affixed wherever you want, sort of captured the overall morphology of the droid. Continue reading →

852: (302/365) Magic Carpet Ride

| wonko

Go on, admit it. Ever since you saw the “Aladdin” movie you have secretly thought how cool it would be to ride on a magic carpet:

This clever model, inexpertly folded, is an exercise in colour management- had I used bi-colour paper, the rider and carpet would be different colours – pretty neat. Continue reading →

848: (298/365) Dogfight

| wonko

I am blessed to have friends who occasionally gather around an original board game from the 60’s and pit plane against plane in a WW2ish game of “Dogfight”:

Tonight it was the valiant PDub against the Von Richtoffen Brothers, with much valiance on both sides, some gutsy moves and a bunch of squabbling like 4 year-olds.

Cards, dice, strategy, attack but in the end, the Von Richtoffen brothers were victorious, only after sustaining tragic losses of a triple-ace in training and a double-ace in training by a plucky little airman who went down in a blaze of glory. Continue reading →

807: (257/365) Won’t you come and fly ….

| wonko

…in my beautiful balloon:

This is an 18 section balloon made from 6 modules that overlap and interleave, edge locks that secure the geometry, no glue, no cuts etc. I can see it decorating a small kid’s bedroom, surrounded by planes and rocket ships. Who wants it? Continue reading →

778: (228/365) Ferris Wheel

| wonko

In the Brisbane CBD today is a public holiday for the RNA Show:

I stopped going to the show when our kids asked whether we had to go again this year – it is huge, full of people, end of winter and full of flu.

 

I also had a go at capturing it in 3d, using Fyuse, to give you a sense of the movement. Continue reading →

674: (124/365) Red Leader Standing By

| wonko

May The Fourth be with you.

Now I must admit to being one of the original Star Wars nerds, seeing the films when first aired a number of times – they heralded a new style of Sci-Fi, a place where space was common place, space ships were clean and villains announced their evil plans with enough time to allow the rebel alliance to thwart them:

The spacecraft in the Star Wars universe were unique and wildly illogical. I can remember seeing Tie Fighters and thinking wtf? Continue reading →

662: (112/365) Spiral Corrugation

| wonko

Origami seems to be the new Materials Engineering black, being considered a contemporary alternative approach to fabrication and structure:

I was reading an article on deploying large solar arrays in space. This problem is not unique – everything taken into space must be small at launch so it can fit in a rocket. Continue reading →