The diamond origami-scissor hinged pattern marks a new type of thick origami that can not only fold and unfold, but also expand and contract (project below). This was done by applying the ‘form generation method of relative ratios’ for two-bar scissors to the thick origami. This research tests whether this method can be extended and generalized to other types of origami. The origami-scissor hinged geometry method is here applied to the waterbomb of thick panels making a waterbomb origami-scissor hinged pattern. While the waterbomb origami of thick panels has one degree of freedom, the waterbomb origami-scissor hinged pattern has two degrees of freedom as it can independently fold and unfold as an origami, and expand and contract as a scissor hinged structure. This creates a new research branch of expandable thick origami.

The ‘form generation method of relative ratios’ (FGMORR) [Rivas-Adrover 17] has been applied to the ‘origami of thick panels’ [Chen et al. 15] because this method to make thick origami can be extended and generalized to different types of origami, and therefore the origami-scissor hinged geometry method can also be applied to all these different types of origami. A critical condition is that the thick origami has to be made of equal or proportional thicknesses so that when translating that geometry with scissors the end nodes match. Another condition is that the pantographs that mark the creases and join different origami faces must have an equal morphology and bilateral symmetry. Automation of this method will be investigated with Grasshopper for Rhinoceros.

Origami-scissor hinged patterns provide an extra degree of freedom, therefore origami patterns that could be folded can now also contract and occupy much smaller volumes. This would be useful in applications where a high ratio of deployed-to stowed volume is required such as space applications, earthbound transportable applications, and to create adaptable spaces and transformable environments in permanent architecture.