PaperMech: FoldMecha Simulator, 2014-2016

HyunJoo Oh, Jeeeun Kim, Cory Morales, Mark D. Gross, Michael Eisenberg, Sherry Hsi.

FoldMecha: Exploratory Design and Engineering of Mechanical Papercraft, TEI 2017: DOI PDF

FoldMecha: Design for Linkage-Based Paper Toys, UIST 2015: DOI PDF

Our design simulator, FoldMecha supports interactive exploratory engineering design of moveable paper crafts. It combines the strengths of designing with a physical construction kit with the flexibility of design software and rapid manufacturing. In FoldMecha, a designer assembles component mechanisms and changes parameters of linkages, gear sizes, and motor types. As a user constructs a design, FoldMecha shows its behavior in simulation. Users design new modules by linking mechanisms or assembling more complicated moveable objects by revising movement modules. FoldMecha then generates the folding net to cut for physical prototyping.

FoldMecha supports users to select where they want to start from–either motions or mechanisms. In our workshops, we noticed that the unfamiliarity of domain specific languages, such as rack and pinion gears or crank mechanism, concerns novice designers from the beginning. So it inspired us to develop the FoldMecha system to start with familiar languages and ideas such as up-down, open-close, or flapping. Users can choose the mechanism and specify details of the local parameters while exploring the simulation of the motions.

You can explore FoldMecha [here]. 

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http://www.papermech.net/
We present FoldMecha, a computer-aided design (CAD) system for exploratory construction of mechanical papercraft. FoldMecha enables students to design their own movements with simple mechanisms by modifying parameters and build physical prototypes. This paper describes the system, as well as associated prototyping methods that make the construction process easier and more adaptable to widely different creations. The paper also discusses a week-long workshop that we held with six teenagers using FoldMecha. The teens successfully designed and built their own mechanisms, and adapted them to a variety of creations. Throughout the workshop, they progressively achieved an advanced level of skill and understanding about mechanical movements.
This is a video demonstration of FoldMecha, a computational design tool to help non-expert designers explore Paper Mechatronics. By customizing templates of the system, users can understand basic mechanical principles, design their own models, print out the folding nets and cut them out to construct. This video shows how we used the tool to build an interactive paper crab and Venus Flytrap starting from simple paper crafting.
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