{"id":237568,"date":"2026-05-22T03:17:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T08:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/novel-origami-pattern-turns-flat-sheets-into-load-bearing-3d-technology"},"modified":"2026-05-22T03:17:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T08:17:47","slug":"novel-origami-pattern-turns-flat-sheets-into-load-bearing-3d-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/novel-origami-pattern-turns-flat-sheets-into-load-bearing-3d-technology","title":{"rendered":"Novel origami pattern turns flat sheets into load-bearing 3D technology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/novel-origami-pattern-turns-flat-sheets-into-load-bearing-3d-technology.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>McGill University researchers have discovered a new way to fold flat sheets into smooth, curved shells that can switch from floppy and flexible to stiff and load-bearing on demand. By designing a special origami pattern and threading cable-like elements through it, they can control the material\u2019s final three-dimensional shape and how rigid it becomes.<\/p>\n<p>The result, a \u201cdoubly curved lens box,\u201d could advance the technology of such objects as temporary emergency tents, morphing robots and smart fabrics, the researchers said. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-026-69562-2\" target=\"_blank\">Smooth doubly curved origami shells with reprogrammable rigidity,<\/a>\u201d by Morad Mirzajanzadeh and Damiano Pasini, was published in <i>Nature Communications.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>\u201cExisting foldable structures face a trade-off: if they are smooth and nicely curved, they tend to be soft and floppy; if they are strong and stiff, they usually look faceted, jagged or uncomfortable, and their shape is hard to tune once built,\u201d said Damiano Pasini, study co-author and professor of mechanical engineering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>McGill University researchers have discovered a new way to fold flat sheets into smooth, curved shells that can switch from floppy and flexible to stiff and load-bearing on demand. By designing a special origami pattern and threading cable-like elements through it, they can control the material\u2019s final three-dimensional shape and how rigid it becomes. The [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1635,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-materials","category-robotics-ai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}