LZH Builds World’s Smallest Functioning TIPP-KICK Player

Laser Zentrum Hannover engineers made this 6.8-mm-tall figurine, dubbed Mini Ronaldo, to showcase the capabilities of microstereolithography technology.

Now we know how the engineers at Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) get their kicks, and, like the song says, it’s not from champagne or flying too high with some gal in the sky. Lately, they have focused on building the world’s smallest functioning TIPP-KICK player. They’re not quite there yet, but they plan to have Mini Ronaldo up and kicking well before the 2010 World Cup opening ceremony.

LZH engineers used a digital image of Ronaldo as their model for the 6.8-mm-tall figurine. Three hundred forty 0.02-mm-thick sheets of a liquid polymer were layered on top of each other and then hardened by means of a laser. The next step in the process is giving the tiny striker full functionality, i.e. the ability to kick a ball.

“Miniaturisation of the mechanical parts is quite tricky,” says Ulrich Klug of LZH. “The figure [has to be] produced in a single step in ready-to-play condition,” and Mini Ronaldo’s moving parts are too fragile for the rough-and-tumble world of tweezers, explains Klug. “The technical aspects of the player show the challenges we face when building parts layer by layer. This is especially true when making microcomponents for biomedical and microfluidic applications,” adds Klug.

Relatively few people are aware of the possibilities of microstereolithography, says Klug. Making the smallest functioning TIPP-KICK player in the world is designed to create some buzz around the technique. Guess what—it’s working!

If all goes according to schedule, the fully functioning figurine will be working on his moves at Hannover Messe 2010.

Tags: Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V., LZH, Ronaldo, TIPP-KICK