Paper folded according to the rules of origami can theoretically perform any computation imaginable, from adding numbers to running the latest artificial intelligence software, though in practice this is unlikely to be useful.
While we normally think of computation as something done using silicon chips, anything capable of representing and manipulating information can be used as a computer听鈥� for example, dominoes arranged in the correct pattern are able to .
at the University of Melbourne, Australia, says a YouTube video of a domino computer inspired him to investigate the capabilities of origami, which has long been a hobby of his. 鈥淚 thought, well, if something as stupid as dominoes falling down can compute something, then surely origami can,鈥� says Assis. 鈥淸So] I spent a few years thinking of different ways to prove it.鈥�
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To represent information using origami, Assis assigned a 0 or 1 to each paper fold, with folds going one way representing a 0 and those going the other a 1. Using this framework, he created a NAND gate, one of the logical building blocks of computation. The gate takes two inputs that can each be 0 or 1, and outputs a 0 only if both its inputs are 1, otherwise it outputs a 1. The origami gate has several folds representing 0 or 1 that feed into other folds, replicating the inputs and outputs of logic gates.
NAND gates are particularly important because they can be combined, in vast numbers, to and therefore run any computation. 鈥淭heoretically, if you had an infinite sheet of paper and you鈥檝e set it up with enough of these gadgets, then you could treat it just like a modern computer,鈥� says Assis. 鈥淵ou have two folds that have to come in, but then they will only fold if the third one is folded in one way or the other, and that is essentially doing a very, very simple computation. And then the trick is combining some of these very simple gadgets to create something a bit more complex.鈥�
Assis says that while he has proven that computation with paper is theoretically possible, there is no chance that a working machine could be made in real life; it would essentially require an infinitely large piece of paper, be incomprehensibly complex to fold and probably be too fragile and floppy to carry out any calculations.
The only exception may be in simple origami robots, says Assis, where computer chips and memory are too bulky and simple logical reactions could be built in with carefully designed origami folds.
Assis has folded a single NAND gate with paper, however, using an A0 sized sheet of paper that measures 841 millimetres by 1189 millimetres 鈥� essentially the size of 16 sheets of A4. 鈥淚t really is not easy to fold,鈥� says Assis. 鈥淚鈥檓 an origami artist on the side, so I know a lot about origami, have a lot of experience folding, but it鈥檚 a bit of a pain.鈥�
Other researchers are also interested in origami computation. Last year, 听at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania and at Cornell University in New York published a to Assis鈥檚 work, although all three agree that Assis had demonstrated his research in talks several years ago.
鈥淚t seems like the method Inna and I developed is more efficient than Michael鈥檚, but that they both achieve the same result in the end,鈥� says Hull. 鈥淢ichael鈥檚 approach focuses in developing a flat origami NAND gate, which is all one really needs to perform general computation. In contrast, Inna and I developed a whole family of flat origami logic gates.鈥�
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