Folding

Many hikers use trekking poles, plus they carry a folding camp chair in their backpack. The TrekChair is designed to both save space and reduce weight, by integrating the poles into the chair's frame.

Picture solar panels, and you’re most likely picturing a solid square slab. But the tech is becoming more flexible, and now engineers at Pusan National University in Korea have developed prototype solar cells that are fully foldable.

Back in 2018, we heard about a full-size foldable wheel known as the Revolve. Its inventor, Andrea Mocellin, has now incorporated the technology into a wheelchair that folds down to fit inside an airliner's overhead baggage area.

We've seen tiny houses that extend upward, tiny houses that extend outward, and even tiny houses that take the roof off, but Brette Haus puts a new spin on the small living movement with a folding design intended for easier transportation.

The Japanese folding paper art form of kirigami has a lot of potential for engineering. Scientists have taken this technique down to the nanoscale for the first time, opening up new possibilities in applications ranging from robotics to aerospace.

Although quadcopter drones may offer relatively good battery life, their hexa- and octocopter counterparts can lift heavier loads. The xFold drone can go either way, however, with extra propeller arms that can be attached or detached as needed.

Last month, Oppo offered a glimpse into a possible smartphone future with the Oppo X 2021, a concept with a rollable display. Now the company has demonstrated another concept at the China International Industrial Design Expo – the slide-phone.

Micro-mobility startup WheelKinetic has launched a squat little electric scooter called the BooZter which folds down to a portable package that can be carried by hand or thrown in a backpack.

When plants perform movements such as curling their leaves, they do so by drawing water into the cellulose fibers in that part of their "body." Scientists have now replicated that technique to produce self-folding paper structures.

While there are now a great number of folding electric scooters on the market, not all of them are particularly easy to transport once folded. The Ekooter looks like it should be, though, as it folds down into a sort of wheeled ring.

Sails for longboard skateboards do already exist, but they're pretty big – about the size of a sailboard sail. The SailStick, however, folds down for relatively easy carrying and storage when not in use.

Some people refuse to wear bike helmets because they find the things to be big, heavy and gawky-looking. The Danish-made Newton-Rider helmet is a bit different, in that it's sleek, thin, and made of semi-soft materials.