They are called karakuri puppets and they have been used in Japan as early as the 17th Century. The technique is called Kirigami which differs to origami as the paper is cut rather than just folded.

Perhaps the most interesting part is how much of these technologies borrow from the Japanese art of origami, and the related kirigami. Rather than trying to build three-dimensional structures ...

The Kiri-Spoon, from "kirigami," the Japanese art form of cutting paper, can both grasp like a fork and scoop like a spoon.

Here, the bare whiteness of the site inspired them to cut and fold a sheet of paper, a technique the Japanese call kirigami and that gave the house its name. It’s a version of origami, in which paper ...

Researchers have built a mechanical computer inspired by kirigami, the Japanese art of paper-folding and cutting. The proof-of-concept computer, which includes no electronic components ...