E-Origami "Creating Electronic Paper Frogs"

Do you want to build your own paper figures with integrated electronics ? You only need glue, conductive paint and patience. You can design you paper circuits and integrate some basic electronic component easily.

Following this tutorial you can build your own bright frogs.

Here you can find all the necessary components to do your own e-origami.

MATERIALS

Conductive Glue
CR1225 Coil Battery
SMD LEDs
Varnish photographic paper
Photography paper
Circuit Scribe Conductive Ink Pen
Silhouette Machine
0.25 oz Elmers Probond Advanced Glue Samples

SIMILAR PROJECTS:

Here you can find all the necessary components to do your own e-origami. You can design you paper circuits and integrate some basic electronic component easily.

http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MIT/863.10/people/j...

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/e-origami-the-intersec...

http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2014/apr/health-moni...

https://www.instructables.com/id/Paperduino-20-with...

SPECIFIC SKILLS:

You don't need high programming, hability or electronic skills. You only need to follow these steps and have patience and creativity.

Step 1: Designing the Electronic Circuit

First of all has been to design the electronic circuit so that when we will build the frog it will conduct electricity to the LEDs.

We wanted to integrate it into a drawing, in this case it is a knight or a prince to symbolize the story of the "The Frog Prince".

"You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your handsome prince."

Here you can see various models and the evolution of the drawing.

Finally we calculate an appropriate electronic circuit that makes the frog turn on the LEDs when you press it to make it jump.

In this step only please download the appropriate pdf . There is a pdf to build one frog and another to build 4.

Once you have it only need to print the .pdf on your printer.

Step 2: Printing the Electronic Circuit

In this step we will draw the electronic circuit. For this we need to use some kind of conductive ink .

In our case we decided to use:

Circuit Scribe conductive ink pen

The simplest option is to directly use the pen and draw by hand the circuit.

But you can download the attached .pdf or .svg to print it with the pen and the Silhouette Machine.

Import the file

Import the file into Silhouette Studio by dragging the file onto the blank page. You can see that all of the circuit are in vectorial format.

Select print settings

Open up the plotting window. We aren't using a cutting mat, so that option can be deselected. A printing speed of 1 (the slowest speed) works well. Finally, make sure the "sketch pen" option is selected.

Getting the plotter ready

To prepare the Circuit Scribe for plotting, wrap the pen in masking tape, then wedge it into the plotter head and lock it. Load the plotter with glossy photo paper, which will enhance the conductivity of the ink, compared to standard paper.

Printing

Now simply hit "cut" in Silhouette Studio!

We have designed the circuit with a double line size. This is to our advantage -- drawing over the traces twice reduces their electrical resistance and giving robustness to electrical connections.

rana7.cut.v4.pdf
Download

Step 3: Electronic Assembly

This is the most delicate part . It is to use glue to attach the LEDs at the upper position of the frog. In the circuit there are two areas without circuit where you should place the LEDs.

You must use a tester to find the polarity of the LED and place according to the diagram.

The battery will be housed inside frog paper positive side up .

Place a drop of superglue between the component pads. It's ok if glue gets on one of the traces that runs between the pads. Then carefully place a component with tweezers and press in the center. This method is permanent and the connection between components and pads should be good. However, we sometimes reinforce the connections using the conductive pen.

To protect the circuit and to be folded to build the frog is Necessary to apply some type of protective mask or varnish without giving over the area of the feet or the central of the drawn knight.

The central zone is Where battery will contact with the circuit and the foot zone is neccesary because it will turn on the LEDs and will make the frog jump .