Post date: Nov 26, 2014 2:46:48 AM
Check out this cool Ted video about Origami, and be sure to look for the application that the speaker, Robert J. Lang, developed. This is such a great merging of art, mathematics, engineering, and science. While it's not instrumented education, designs based on this mathematics could be used to build highly complicated instruments.
The video is at: http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami
His app is at: http://www.langorigami.com/science/computational/treemaker/treemaker.php
It's based on ideas developed by Akira Yoshizawa, whom you can learn about at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Yoshizawa
For 3D printed objects that also use origami techniques to self-fold, also check out the following Ted video presented by the Wyss Institute at Harvard: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/162/robot-folds-itself-up-and-walks-away