Variable-stiffness tensegrity spine

Vertebrates, including amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, with their ability to change the stiffness of the spine to increase load-bearing capability or flexibility, have inspired roboticists to develop artificial variable-stiffness spines. However, unlike their natural counterparts, current...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSmart materials and structures Vol. 29; no. 7; pp. 75013 - 75022
Main Authors Zappetti, Davide, Arandes, Roc, Ajanic, Enrico, Floreano, Dario
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published IOP Publishing 01.07.2020
Subjects
adaptive structures
artificial spine
continuous manipulator
soft robotics
tensegrity
variable-stiffness
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Summary:Vertebrates, including amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, with their ability to change the stiffness of the spine to increase load-bearing capability or flexibility, have inspired roboticists to develop artificial variable-stiffness spines. However, unlike their natural counterparts, current robotic spine systems do not display robustness or cannot adjust their stiffness according to their task. In this paper, we describe a novel variable-stiffness tensegrity spine, which uses an active mechanism to add or remove a ball-joint constrain among the vertebrae, allowing transition among different stiffness modes: soft mode, global stiff mode, and directional stiff mode. We validate the variable-stiffness properties of the tensegrity spine in experimental bending tests and compare results to a model. Finally, we demonstrate the tensegrity spine system as a continuous variable-stiffness manipulator and highlight its advantages over current systems.
Bibliography:SMS-109525.R1
ISSN:0964-1726
1361-665X
DOI:10.1088/1361-665X/ab87e0