Abstract
Tensegrity structures which are comprised of bars and strings are very lightweight structures and they have the capability to deform and remain stable. For these properties they have been utilized in various fields of engineering for various purposes. One of the potential application of tensegrities is in the area of robotics. Three bar tensegrity is a basic unit structure, the dynamics of which can be utilized for tensegrity based robots. Due to its similar geometrical shape and easy control of strings, and by the application of inward compressive load, the movement of whole robot can be controlled. In this paper, the dynamics of three bar tensegrity structure has been studied under compressive load. The mathematical model for the structure has been built; and node matrix and connectivity matrix have been defined to describe the structure. The simulation has been performed on ADAMS software to analyze the movements of bar and deformation in strings under the effect of compressive load. All the strings have been grouped according to the similar deformation experienced by them. In addition to that, compression and twisting of top layer of the structure has been investigated. The obtained results provide the base for the construction of extremely lightweight robotic structure.
Highlights
THE word ‘tensegrity’ is a combination of two words: tension and integrity [1], which implies that a kind of structure that have a certain strength under the action of tension force
We considered j=1 type three bar tensegrity structure and selected radius as 200 mm and height as 500 mm, we obtained the bottom and top node co-ordinates which are arranged column wise in the node matrix N as follows: n 1 n 2 n 3 n 4
Mathematical model was built for three bar tensegrity structure and node matrix, bar connectivity and string connectivity were defined
Summary
THE word ‘tensegrity’ is a combination of two words: tension and integrity [1], which implies that a kind of structure that have a certain strength under the action of tension force. Tensegrity is a new type of structure which is composed of strings bearing tensile loads and bars possessing compressive loads forming a stable structure. Skelton [10] proposed that variations in lengths of strings can cause change in shape of the structure, while retaining the tensegrity conditions of equilibrium and stability. Basit [11] analyzed the dynamics of six bar ball type tensegrity structure by applying compression and expansion forces and observed a dynamic similarity between certain groups of bars and strings. We have done dynamic analysis of the three-bar prismatic tensegrity structure under compressive load. Simulation model has been built on ADAMS software and motion of bars and deformation in strings have been analyzed along with compression and twisting of top layer of the structure. Our dynamic analysis in the field of robotics is discussed
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