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Re:Tiny Robotic Bee Assembles Itself Like Pop-Up Book by karolist on Saturday February 18, 2012 @09:53AM (#3606681)
There's much leftover material that looks to be wasted. Is there any reason the block has to be this size? Can't the margins be smaller?
Re:Tiny Robotic Bee Assembles Itself Like Pop-Up Book by icegreentea on Saturday February 18, 2012 @11:26PM (#3608645)
Looks like this configuration would allow the highest density of units to be fabricated per given surface area. Notice that the hexagon is just barely larger than the wing span where they approach each other. Can't do the math now, but it's likely more space efficient to use the hexagon, than a plain rectangle. You'll need to use one of those shapes so you can tessellate without lose. The carbon fiber structure might not have to be continuous, though I suspect that it might play a role in positioning during fabrication.
Re:Tiny Robotic Bee Assembles Itself Like Pop-Up Book by withad on Saturday February 18, 2012 @11:40AM (#3606924)
They showed a lot of them grouped together into a sheet towards the end of the video, so I assume the hexagon was just a prototype or made specifically for demonstration. Although if you're talking about margins between them on the sheet, I'm not sure.
Re:Tiny Robotic Bee Assembles Itself Like Pop-Up Book by alan_cx on Saturday February 18, 2012 @11:03AM (#3606826)
Like everything, this will be refined over time. Give them a chance!!!!!!!