Computer-aided manufacturing of spherical mechanisms

In this paper a computer-aided manufacturing methodology for spherical four-bar mechanisms is presented. First, the kinematics of spherical mechanisms are reviewed as they pertain to their manufacture. This is followed by a brief review of some of the current computer-aided design (CAD) software for spherical four-bar mechanisms, e.g., Sphinx, SphinxPC, Isis, and Osiris. These software packages provide the three-dimensional visualization and computational capabilities necessary to design spherical four-bar mechanisms. However, to date no tools exist to aid in the manufacture of spherical mechanisms. Finally, we present our implementation of this CAM methodology for spherical four-bar mechanisms called SphinxCAM. SphinxCAM, when used with the CAD tools mentioned above, facilitates the design, visualization, prototyping and manufacture of spherical four-bar mechanisms.