FOLDAWAY: the project for portable haptic interfaces

FOLDAWAY, aims to develop ultra-portable and low cost origami haptic interfaces. Such devices allow the user to experience an advanced level of interaction that is based on the sense of touch. The first prototype has three degrees of freedom and can interact with human fingers by tracking their motion and providing force, stiffness and texture perception.

Through its unique origami manufacturing, it is the first haptic interface that folds-away when not in use. Its palm size, and thin design, makes it the ideal user interface for any portable device. One of the enabling technologies behind this innovative interface is a layer by layer origami manufacturing technique to produce complex 3D mechanisms that can be folded collapsing into a plane. The manufacturing of these structures is cost competitive, scalable and does not require manual assembly.