Towards Automatic Assembly of Sub-Centimeter Millirobot Structures

Abstract

We describe new fabrication methods using fixtures and milli-robots (orthotweezers) to fold pre-cut stainless steel sheets into microstructures, bond them, and attach strain gages. The fixture developed for folding triangular structural elements, with the angles for sequential folding chosen through a theoretical analysis, as well as the steps taken to automatically assemble the beam and attach the strain gages are described in detail. By completing the folding, bonding, and microassembly steps, we plan to build a selfcontained desktop rapid prototyping system.