This article was first published in the December 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
When a major flood or earthquake strikes, people need help -- quickly. One challenge is getting to them. Roads can crack open; fields can wash away; bridges can collapse. Temporary structures have not always proved practical -- they are too flimsy or take days to set up.
But Ichiro Ario and his team at Hiroshima University hope to fill that void with the Mobilebridge, a collapsible overpass that can rapidly span gaps and support cars carrying emergency supplies.
Though Ario's studies in materials science and origami informed the design, the real inspiration for the accordion-like mechanism came from watching his son play with a toy pistol: whenever he pulled the trigger, a section of the barrel would scissor out.
The Mobilebridge is just three metres thick all folded up, but flick a switch and the steel and aluminium structure flattens out in spectacular fashion to more than 21 metres. "It's like a robot bridge or a bridge machine," Ario says. For a test earlier this year, workers towed the Mobilebridge by trailer to Japan's Hongo River, where installation took about an hour. That's fast -- and in a real emergency, speed makes all the difference.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
