Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) techniques allow the insitu fabrication of fully-assembled devices with mating/fitting parts. Recently, this technique of fabrication has been found to be useful for building integrated mechanisms in robotics, and a wide array of other similar applications are anticipated. An interesting issue that arises during the fabrication of such mechanisms is the determination of an optimal pose in which the mechanism should be built. For example, should the mechanism be built in a folded or stretched-out position? In conventional manufacturing these issues do not arise, as each individual link is typically manufactured separately and then the pieces are brought together during assembly.
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