Foldscope: Origami-Based Paper Microscope

Here we describe an ultra-low-cost origami-based approach for large-scale manufacturing of microscopes, specifically demonstrating brightfield, darkfield, and fluorescence microscopes. Merging principles of optical design with origami enables high-volume fabrication of microscopes from 2D media. Flexure mechanisms created via folding enable a flat compact design. Structural loops in folded paper provide kinematic constraints as a means for passive self-alignment. This light, rugged instrument can survive harsh field conditions while providing a diversity of imaging capabilities, thus serving wide-ranging applications for cost-effective, portable microscopes in science and education.

• Publication year

  2014

• Venue

  PLoS ONE

• Publication date

  2014-03-05

• Fields of study

  Materials Science, Physics, Computer Science, Engineering, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0098781arXiv 1403.1211PMID 24940755PMCID 4062392
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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