1. Date of download: 11/6/2017
Copyright © ASME. All rights reserved.
From: Integrated Manufacture of Exoskeletons and Sensing Structures for Folded Millirobots
J. Mechanisms Robotics. 2015;7(2): doi: /
Figure Legend:
Bottom structural shell manufacturing process: (a) overhead view of multilayer laser cut mold. The pattern in the bottom layer will form the structural ribs (i), and thin cuts provide vacuum feed (ii). The top plate of the mold forms the undercut lip feature (iii). Alignment pins (iv) are added to stack up the mold layers. (b) Cross section view of thermoformed plastic shell in mold, where the undercut lip (iii) formed by separate layers of the mold is shown. (c) To release the formed shell, the shell is roughly cut around the top layer of the mold, the base plate with dowel pins is pulled downward and the top two plates defining the undercut lip are pulled outward. (d) The roughly cut shell is aligned to a fixture plate (v) for the laser cutting which duplicates the alignment pin pattern as in the stack-up above, and then holes for legs and final outline release cuts are made by the laser (vi). (e) Images of the bottom shell mold, thermoformed bottom shell, and finished bottom shell after release cuts.