A Symmetric Three Degree of Freedom Tensegrity Mechanism with Dual Operation Modes for Robot Actuation
Tensegrity robots that use bio-inspired structures have many superior properties over conventional robots with regard to strength, weight, compliance and robustness, which are indispensable to planetary exploration and harsh environment applications. Existing research has presented various tensegrit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-05-01
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| Series: | Biomimetics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/6/2/30 |
| _version_ | 1797533677472710656 |
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| author | Tianyuan Wang Mark A. Post |
| author_facet | Tianyuan Wang Mark A. Post |
| author_sort | Tianyuan Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Tensegrity robots that use bio-inspired structures have many superior properties over conventional robots with regard to strength, weight, compliance and robustness, which are indispensable to planetary exploration and harsh environment applications. Existing research has presented various tensegrity robots with abundant capabilities in broad scenarios but mostly not focused on articulation and manipulability. In this paper, we propose a novel tensegrity mechanism for robot actuation which greatly improves the agility and efficiency compared with existing ones. The design integrates two separate tensegrity substructures inspired by shoulder and hip joints of the human body and features a similar form to a hexapod platform. It mitigates detrimental antagonistic forces in the structural network for optimising actuation controllability and efficiency. We validated the design both on a prototype and in a Chrono Engine simulation that represents the first physically accurate simulation of a wheeled tensegrity robot. It can reach up to approximately <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>58</mn><mo>.</mo><msup><mn>9</mn><mo>∘</mo></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>59</mn><mo>.</mo><msup><mn>4</mn><mo>∘</mo></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>47</mn><mo>.</mo><msup><mn>1</mn><mo>∘</mo></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> in pitch, yaw and roll motion, respectively. The mechanism demonstrates good agility and controllability as an actuated robot linkage while preserving desirable properties of tensegrity structures. The design would potentially inspire more possibilities of agile tensegrity implementations that enable future robots with enhanced compliance, robustness and efficiency without a tradeoff. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:19:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5626f9580ed24148aa6ff73fa7c43a26 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2313-7673 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:19:01Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biomimetics |
| spelling | doaj.art-5626f9580ed24148aa6ff73fa7c43a262023-11-21T20:13:17ZengMDPI AGBiomimetics2313-76732021-05-01623010.3390/biomimetics6020030A Symmetric Three Degree of Freedom Tensegrity Mechanism with Dual Operation Modes for Robot ActuationTianyuan Wang0Mark A. Post1Department of Electronic Engineering, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UKDepartment of Electronic Engineering, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UKTensegrity robots that use bio-inspired structures have many superior properties over conventional robots with regard to strength, weight, compliance and robustness, which are indispensable to planetary exploration and harsh environment applications. Existing research has presented various tensegrity robots with abundant capabilities in broad scenarios but mostly not focused on articulation and manipulability. In this paper, we propose a novel tensegrity mechanism for robot actuation which greatly improves the agility and efficiency compared with existing ones. The design integrates two separate tensegrity substructures inspired by shoulder and hip joints of the human body and features a similar form to a hexapod platform. It mitigates detrimental antagonistic forces in the structural network for optimising actuation controllability and efficiency. We validated the design both on a prototype and in a Chrono Engine simulation that represents the first physically accurate simulation of a wheeled tensegrity robot. It can reach up to approximately <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>58</mn><mo>.</mo><msup><mn>9</mn><mo>∘</mo></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>59</mn><mo>.</mo><msup><mn>4</mn><mo>∘</mo></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>47</mn><mo>.</mo><msup><mn>1</mn><mo>∘</mo></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> in pitch, yaw and roll motion, respectively. The mechanism demonstrates good agility and controllability as an actuated robot linkage while preserving desirable properties of tensegrity structures. The design would potentially inspire more possibilities of agile tensegrity implementations that enable future robots with enhanced compliance, robustness and efficiency without a tradeoff.https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/6/2/30tensegrityrobotmodularbio-inspiredsimulationcompliance |
| spellingShingle | Tianyuan Wang Mark A. Post A Symmetric Three Degree of Freedom Tensegrity Mechanism with Dual Operation Modes for Robot Actuation Biomimetics tensegrity robot modular bio-inspired simulation compliance |
| title | A Symmetric Three Degree of Freedom Tensegrity Mechanism with Dual Operation Modes for Robot Actuation |
| title_full | A Symmetric Three Degree of Freedom Tensegrity Mechanism with Dual Operation Modes for Robot Actuation |
| title_fullStr | A Symmetric Three Degree of Freedom Tensegrity Mechanism with Dual Operation Modes for Robot Actuation |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Symmetric Three Degree of Freedom Tensegrity Mechanism with Dual Operation Modes for Robot Actuation |
| title_short | A Symmetric Three Degree of Freedom Tensegrity Mechanism with Dual Operation Modes for Robot Actuation |
| title_sort | symmetric three degree of freedom tensegrity mechanism with dual operation modes for robot actuation |
| topic | tensegrity robot modular bio-inspired simulation compliance |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/6/2/30 |
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