From space dwellings, to watercraft, to water bottles, to camping furniture, origami techniques have been called upon to create hardware that packs up tiny and performs on demand. Utah startup Sego Innovations now uses it to create the most packable solar charger around, with a standalone panel that packs down to an eighth of its size within about a second. Slide it in a backpack or suitcase and carry renewable off-grid power anywhere.

NASA, in particular, has used origami to rather impressive effect, applying it to a wide array of projects spanning everything from James Webb mirrors, to small, deployable robots, to massive telescope star shades. In 2013, the American space agency partnered up with researchers at Brigham Young University on the design of a rocket-mounted solar panel that could compact down for launch and expand to 10 times its original size once in space. BYU's continued compliant mechanism research has since spawned other designs, including a bulletproof safety shield for law enforcement that made its way to market.