Fabricating lightweight skin systems for large scale robotic characters

Abstract

A method of fabricating a skin system or its elements using a laser cutter. The laser cutter is controlled to perform multiple passes to selectively cut away layers of material on a surface of a sheet of cellular foam materials. Each layer of material to be removed is defined by a cut or texture pattern. The laser cutter is operated to cut deeper with each layer of material removed by setting a different resolution for the laser cutter for each layer. For example, a laser cutter may be selectively controlled to operate within a resolution range, and each layer defined by the same or different cut pattern is cut using a different resolution. The method includes associating lower resolution settings for the first or outer layers to remove a first depth of material from the skin sheet's surface and associating higher and higher resolution settings for additional layers.