One of my first projects at Barrett Technology was to design a retrofit high-precision optical encoder solution that would give our existing WAM Wrist product higher positional accuracy while requiring minimal additional parts. With limited space in the wrist, I had to select a small, fragile encoder so I had to design a flexure that would accommodate very small angular and axial misalignments while staying stiff radially to accurately transmit rotary motion to the encoder. I used SolidWorks Simulation to predict deflection of the encoder flexure and designed the part for wire EDM process because of the extremely small slot size and the fragile nature of the flexure coils. Ultimately, the encoders reduced position error to 1/10 that of our standard encoders.