Oribotics - the art/science of robotic origami » Events

Tanteidan convention

admin — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 11:23:36 +0000

We just finished the Tanteidan convention! My talk on Friday went down really well, my Japanese was clear and understood. I had many people approach me and comment on the talk and the project. They really loved the video of the construction of Origami house, and the next day we sold all of the Folding Australia books and tshirts. I’m really happy about that. It’s a nice boost for the 2007 Folding Australia convention, financially and socially. We made closer friends, as the Japanese slowly open up, and my language skills improve the gap between us gets smaller, and our communication starts to flow.

We move out of the apartment tomorrow morning, and we’re off on a tour via the Aichi Expo. The 3 Japanese guests had such a good time at our last convention so they wanted to thank us by inviting one of us on the tour. I felt a little uncomfortable, but Mr Yamaguchi insisted that it was appropriate, and what he says goes. Who am I to argue, in Japan the heirachy is very strong, and you dont argue with the boss, ever.

mY will have some photos on her blog soon…

Origami Karakuri

admin — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 09:32:00 +0000

Mr Maekawa organised a meeting with Mr Ito from Denso company in Nagoya - the same area as the Aichi expo. This was a chance to see perhaps the first known origami automata - perhaps the first oribot (to my knowledge).

This photo is from
mY’s blog

Mr Ito’s Origami Karakuri is a fantastic temple on wheels, like a Gion Matsuri Yamaboko, with animated dolls playing instruments, and 2 folding paper cranes (the really beautiful part). As the single motor turns, a set of large spin wheels control the delicate movements of the flat sheet of fabric which has rigid areas of thin hinged metal plates which match the crease pattern of a papercrane. The flat sheets magically slowly and magically form the shape of the papercrane.

Origami Papercup Engineering Company

admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 10:19:17 +0000

Over the last weekend, Jun Maekawa and his wife invited My Trinh and myself to his mountain cottage for a few days of relaxation and sightseeing. On the return journey to Tokyo, we detoured to a company which specialises in paper engineering. They engineer and produce machine tools for folding and forming paper. It was quite amazing to see the extent of the work they are able to produce. Of particular interest to me was the origami paper cup, as presented in Tom Hull’s book Origami [3], The 3rd meeting of Origami, Science and Education (Art was featured in the first 2 and dropped out of the title for some reason - I’m going to ask Robert Lang if he’ll bring it back in for the next one).

What every oriboticist needs in Tokyo

admin — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 21:34:54 +0000

It had to be done… check out the bikes home page for full details- www.strida.com

Oritatami means folding bike - and this one folds the smallest and quickest - though the triangle shape is unusual but very strong…

Dorkbot Ghent - May 2005 - the final frontier

admin — Fri, 20 May 2005 23:07:00 +0000

dorkfest attracted a mixed crown of artists, geeks, friends, and interested art seekers. The format is somewhere between a party and a new media exhibition. The format shifts from presentations and talks to demonstrations and installations to performances of electronic music and new media interactive works. The late evening is usually a DJ or e-music set, which gets the beer soaked belgian folks up dancing.