We’ve observed a number of teams using hyperbolic mirrors to make an omnivision system. In general the approach was to use heat to bend some kind of mirror material over a 3-d printed convex hyperbolic form. Can anyone who’s had success in creating these mirrors advise in more detail on how to make them? What reflective material worked well? Did they use a heat gun or other heat source? Thanks!
I had a team last year 3dprinting a cone instead of a hyperbolic form.
Then they bought sticky mirror sheets.
By folding them around the cone they did not have to bend around any spheres but only
“in one direction”. This went quite well without any wrinkles.
And the cone size mirror worked out to be good enough to see the ball and the goals.
Maybe this is worth a thought.
Roland
Hi,
I’m glad to hear that worked. We’ve been thinking about the mirror sheets but the boys haven’t started any real research or testing. This will go on their list. I also searched on thermoformable mirror materials, and saw a manufacturer claiming that PETG mirrors were easy to from with heat. The other plastic mirror materials that we’ve seen advertised are acrylic, mylar, and polycarbonate. If anybody has experimented with any of these, it would be great to hear how it went.
Phil