I just found this video and thought, it might be interesting for this community as well.
Originally shared by Anja Austermann
This is a really cool idea, implemented by the Human-Computer Interaction group at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Germany. The group used a laser cutter to produce 3D objects in a fraction of the time of “traditional” 3D printing. (… using the word “traditional” in connection with 3D printing sounds really weird… 
)
Apparently there will be a paper about it in this year’s CHI conference… 
Too bad, I won’t be there. I’d love to learn more about how they built the system and what it can do.
Here’s their website with some more details: http://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/baudisch/projects/laserorigami.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arjRtCjI9AQ