Researchers at the Hasso Plattner Institute have worked out a way to make 3-D objects using only a 2-D laser cutter. They call it LaserOrigami.

When you own a laser cutter, careful calibration is key. Get the focal length wrong and, instead of a nice clean cut, you end up with a blurry burn pattern. LaserOrigami takes this problem and turns it into a feature. By aiming a de-focused laser at a section of plastic, it can heat it just enough to allow it to bend. By alternating between cutting, bending, and turning the sheet, the application can make remarkably complicated objects.

Want to see a magic trick? Watch this 2-D laser cutter make 3-D objects.

The project is a joint effort between Stefanie Mueller, Bastian Kruck, and supervisor Patrick Baudisch, members of the human computer interface lab at the Hasso Plattner Institute, who developed Constructable, the system to let you whittle with lasers. They'll be presenting their findings at CHI 2013 in May.

Is it possible to be a laser cutter virtuoso? The team seems intent on finding the limits of the tool. "With both Constructable and LaserOrigami we try to push the boundaries of what is possible with laser cutting," says Mueller. "While laser cutters are already a great tool for rapid prototyping today, we believe there is a large space for improvement: on the interaction side as well as on what laser cutters can fabricate."

Mueller says their focus on laser cutters is all about making a great tool even better. "In our lab we have a 3-D printer and a laser cutter for prototyping. One might expect that the 3-D printer is the most used device since it offers the most freedom of shapes, but the opposite is true," she says. "While the laser cutter runs several times a day, the 3-D printer is barely used because printing is so slow. If we need to iterate on a design, we can do this within one to two hours with a laser cutter, but with a 3-D printer this takes us several days."

Three ways of making. This is a camera holder for filming iPhone interactions. The 3-D printed version on the left took four hours to print. The traditionally laser cut one in the middle is made from parts. The Origami Lasered version on the right was finished in three minutes, no assembly required. Three ways of making. This is a camera holder for filming iPhone interactions. The 3-D printed version on the left took four hours to print. The traditionally laser-cut one in the middle is put together from parts. The LaserOrigami version on the right was finished in three minutes, no assembly required.

LaserOrigami's implementation is quite simple. All it needs is a laser cutter and the ability to raise and lower the cutting table. Once a section is heated, gravity pulls it down and the plastic cools. A servo motor can be used to rotate the sheet for more precise angles.

On the software side, LaserOrigami can either be controlled using a set of master shapes in a custom Microsoft Visio library, or using the same suite of laser pointers used in constructable. "Our goal is to create systems that are particularly easy and intuitive to use, kind of how 1-year-olds can already control an iPad," says Mueller. "Our approach is to unify the virtual world of the computer with the physical world of the user into a single space."

"If you sift through our projects you will see how this desire for unification and simplification drives all projects in the group."

Photos: Courtesy Hasso Plattner Institute