Researchers at Polytechnique Montreal have created a concept for a parachute inspired by the Japanese art of kirigami, one that engineers hope could be used in everything from humanitarian airdrops to scientific exploration. The prototype developed by Polytechnique engineers is a flat sheet of material, cut into a pattern that unfolds into a parachute as it drops to the ground. A project led by professors David Mélançon and Frédérick Gosselin in Polytechnique Montréal’s Mechanical Engineering Department has developed a parachute made from a plastic sheet cut in a “closed-loop” kirigami pattern. During a demonstration at Polytechnique this week, Gosselin used a bristol board from a dollar store. “And so these Kirigami parachutes could be made very cheap to achieve these kind of applications,” Gosselin said.