This looks like it could be adapted to create also latch design for boxes/lids. While it’s 3d printed, this should be doable on a laser as well (compressible/in plane living hinge comes to mind)
Ideas like this get people big fat grants for research in academia.
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If you were doing it with a laser, you’d need something out of plane for the handle. For the rest of it you could cut a half-gear, bolt with integral rack, spring and so forth in place. With the GF you could even do the chamfer to let it close properly.
Just a finger rest/resistance pad should do it for lighter applications. Yes if you need a lot of force some handle would be needed.
I’m thinking more of a single direction pull vs the rotational leverage in the video.
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Oh, sure. For latches and stuff all you need is a little set of cutouts to act as a spring. I was going for the whole turning rotation into linear motion thing. Because I get caught up in the details.
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Nothing wrong with that 
I’m sure once we get our gfs there will be lots of nifty new ways of doing things comin up.
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It is clever.
I notice that the handle never truly returns to its original horizontal position.
Bendy bits of plastic always deform, wear, and eventually snap off. In fact I’m pretty sure there are already broken bits in the video. Wonder how it holds up to UV exposure and cold?
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That would be my first concern. However the idea is very interesting, with new materials or using enclosed (filled with air) areas to help “reform” who knows what todays kids will see in the future. Anyone know what software they used to create/show the virtual functionality?
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UV and heat do bad things to most plastics. Fatigue due do to repeated deformation is another factor to be worried about…
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This appears to be printed with PLA, based on the texture and ‘bendiness,’ with a glass transition temperature of about 60-65ºC. I know firsthand that PLA will melt if left in a car in the summer. 
[CORRECTION: The material is actually NinjaFlex, a flexible filament developed by a engineer at our local makerspace. It’s a small world!]
On the plus side, you can do some amazing thermoforming of flat-printed parts with a tub of hot water. I’m making a prosthetic arm and am using this technique:
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