Design and analysis of a flexible struts V-expander tensegrity robot for navigating pipes

Abstract

Tensegrity robots have increasingly attracted attention in recent years. Traditionally, these robots rely on rigid struts and cables to maintain equilibrium configurations. However, the inflexibility inherent in these rigid struts curtails the robot’s capacity for deformation, thereby amplifying structural intricacy and imposing limitations on potential applications, particularly in the realm of pipe inspection. Drawing inspiration from the V-expander tensegrity structure, this paper presents a design, analysis, and validation of a flexible struts tensegrity robot. The integration of flexible struts enables the robot to exhibit a compact structure, passive compliance, and excellent adaptability. Through the actuation of three active cables, the robot exhibits inchworm-like motion capabilities for pipes ranging from 50 mm to 110 mm in diameters. A kinetostatics modeling approach is presented to predict the shapes of flexible struts and control the motion behaviors of the robot. To validate the capabilities of the proposed robot and assess the effectiveness of the kinetostatics model, a prototype was constructed and subjected to a series of experiments. The results demonstrate that the prototype exhibits remarkable shape changeability, mobility, and adaptability, while precisely controlling the contact force.