title: Design and control of compliant tensegrity robots through simulation and hardware validation.
abstract: To better understand the role of tensegrity structures in biological systems and their application to robotics, the Dynamic Tensegrity Robotics Lab at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA, has developed and validated two software environments for the analysis, simulation and design of tensegrity robots. These tools, along with new control methodologies and the modular hardware components developed to validate them, are presented as a system for the design of actuated tensegrity structures. As evidenced from their appearance in many biological systems, tensegrity ('tensile-integrity') structures have unique physical properties that make them ideal for interaction with uncertain environments. Yet, these characteristics make design and control of bioinspired tensegrity robots extremely challenging. This work presents the progress our tools have made in tackling the design and control challenges of spherical tensegrity structures. We focus on this shape since it lends itself to rolling locomotion. The results of our analyses include multiple novel control approaches for mobility and terrain interaction of spherical tensegrity structures that have been tested in simulation. A hardware prototype of a spherical six-bar tensegrity, the Reservoir Compliant Tensegrity Robot, is used to empirically validate the accuracy of simulation.
authors.affiliation: Dynamic Tensegrity Robotics Lab, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA Reservoir Lab, Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium ken.caluwaerts@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Caluwaerts
authors.affiliation: Dynamic Tensegrity Robotics Lab, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA Biorobotics Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jérémie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Despraz
authors.affiliation: Dynamic Tensegrity Robotics Lab, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
authors.forename: Atıl
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Işçen
authors.affiliation: Dynamic Tensegrity Robotics Lab, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA Berkeley Institute of Design, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Sabelhaus
authors.affiliation: Dynamic Tensegrity Robotics Lab, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA USRA, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bruce
authors.affiliation: Reservoir Lab, Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schrauwen
authors.affiliation: Dynamic Tensegrity Robotics Lab, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA SGT Inc., NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Vytas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: SunSpiral
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D032701:Biomimetics; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003201:Computers; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion; D008954:Models, Biological; D012371:Robotics; D012984:Software; D013718:Tensile Strength
keywords: bioinspired locomotion; central pattern generators; compliant robotics; planetary exploration; soft robotics; tensegrity