Parachutes inspired by Japanese paper cutting unfurl automatically and fall more predictably than standard parachutes.

Montreal researchers design a low-cost kirigami parachute that is cheap, stable, and scalable, for use in drones, airdrops, and possibly space.

On target A Kirigami-inspired parachute deploying to slow down the delivery of a water bottle from a drone. (Courtesy: Frédérick Gosselin) Inspired by the Japanese art of kirigami, researchers in ...

A new form of robot unveiled this week could power daring search-and-rescue missions…by curling up at the first sign of heat. The “active kirigami” robots, developed by a team at North Carolina State ...

A humble concept from ancient Japanese design might remake the way supplies are dropped from the air. Polytechnique Montréal ...

If you have a fear of heights and find yourself falling out of an airplane, you probably don’t want to look up to find your parachute full of holes. However, if the designer took inspiration from ...

Most robotic grippers work by applying pressure to an object from either side – it's an approach which could damage delicate items. A new gripper gets around that problem, however, thanks to an ...

Nanokirigami has taken off as a field of research in the last few years; the approach is based on the ancient arts of origami (making 3-D shapes by folding paper) and kirigami (which allows cutting as ...

Researchers at the University of Michigan announced on Wednesday that they have developed a method of keeping solar cells turned toward the sun without the need for heavy and energy-hungry motors.

Just like flowers, solar panels that can move along with the sun as it treks across the sky can harvest more energy from those precious rays. However, the hardware and motors to achieve this solar ...