Engineers build ‘pop-up robots’.
Harvard engineers have developed a new technique allowing robotic insects to be mass produced flat on a sheet, and then popped up. Inspired by pop-up books, the system has taken what used to be a painstaking production process to build the robots one at a time by hand, and turn it into a flawless automated process with virtually no error.
In prototypes, 18 layers of carbon fiber, Kapton (a plastic film), titanium, brass, ceramic, and adhesive sheets have been laminated together in a complex, laser-cut design. The structure incorporates flexible hinges that allow the three-dimensional product—just 2.4 millimeters tall—to assemble in one movement, like a pop-up book.
The implications of this novel fabrication strategy go far beyond these micro-air vehicles. The same mass-production technique could be used for high-power switching, optical systems, and other tightly integrated electromechanical devices that have parts on the scale of micrometers to centimeters.
Check out a video of the pop-up action, here.