Nano Level Precision Control for Micro-Machining, Laser Processing and Inspection of Medical Components

Hexapods have a long history in motion control applications, but in recent years traditional Six Degree of Freedom (6-DOF) positioning devices have been found wanting when confronted with the industry demand for higher accuracy, improved repeatability, and better geometric performance. Hexapods are devices where six links or actuators (that extend and retract) join a stationary bottom plate with a top plate that performs coordinated motion in 6-DOF. A sample, fixture, sensor, or any device can be mounted on the top plate and can be manipulated to be in any location and orientation in the available range of travel. In complex applications where high precision 6-DOF motion is required, a hexapod is the go-to system due to its compact size and the fact that it is more reliable than serial stacked stages with their inherent stack-up of errors, alignment difficulties, and cable management issues.

With the exponential demand across industry for sub-micron levels of miniaturization and the requirements for process applications motion systems that move from micro to nano levels of precision, traditional hexapods cannot achieve the desired results. This is due to performance limitations inherent in traditional hexapod designs that require the accurate coordination of the movement of all six axes to accomplish a motion profile, even if the requirement is only for a simple single-axis motion. In addition, despite the fact that the general perception is that hexapods exhibit good stiffness compared to serial stacked multi-axis systems, this is really only in the vertical Z-axis, with weaknesses in the XY plane. In response to the demand for more and more versatile and accurate motion control systems, ALIO Industries (Arvada, CO) has received a U.S. patent on their next-generation Hybrid Hexapod® technology that outperforms any other hexapod system in the market and promises to be a game-changer in the field of motion control that enables of advanced manufacturing processes.

The Hybrid Hexapod takes a different approach to traditional 6-DOF positioning devices and exhibits much higher performance at extremely competitive prices. Rather than six independent legs (and 12 connection joints), ALIO’s approach combines a precision XY monolithic stage, tripod, and continuous rotation theta-Z axis to provide superior overall performance. The combination of serial and parallel kinematics at the heart of the 6-D Nano Precision® stages renders traditional hexapod kinematics obsolete, with orders-of-magnitude improvements in precision, path performance, speed, stiffness and a larger work envelope with virtually unlimited XY travel, and fully programmable tool center point locations. The Hybrid Hexapod has less than 100 Nm three-dimensional 6-axis Point Precision® repeatability, making it an essential technology for mission critical applications in all micro-machining projects, as well as laser processing, optical inspection, medical devices, photonics, semiconductor, metrology and other applications.

ALIO Industries, 5335 Xenon Street, Arvada, CO 80002, 303-339-7500, [email protected], www.alioindustries.com.