New technique for mass-producing microbots inspired by pop-up books and origami
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Plan drawing of the Mobee and scaffold
Mobee and scaffold in flat, pre-assembled form
Close-up of the Mobee and scaffold in flat, pre-assembled form
Mobee and scaffold part-unfolded
An assembled Mobee and scaffold
Close-up of the tiny Mobee flying robot
Inspired by origami and children's pop-up books, Harvard engineers have pioneered a means of mass-producing bee-sized flying microrobots from flat laminated sheets
Half and half: a drawing and photo of the Mobee and scaffold in plan view
Detailed CAD drawing of the Mobee, in which the 18 layers can be seen
Flat and assembled - at a glance you'd hardly spot the difference
A Mobee assembly detail
Detail of a typical Mobee hinged joint
Folded joints lock into place with an apparently simple mechanism - though nothing is simple at such a small scale
Article Summary
Inspired by origami and children's pop-up books, Harvard engineers have pioneered a means of mass-producing bee-sized flying microrobots. The breakthrough mechanizes the already state-of-the art process of making Harvard's Mobee robots by hand, by mass producing flat assemblies by the sheet which can be folded and assembled in a single movement. The technique, which cunningly exploits existing machinery for making printed circuit boards, can theoretically be applied to a multitude of electromechanical machines.
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