CAREER: Static, Dynamic and Kinematic Analysis and Optimization of Tensegrity Structures through Cellular Morphogenesis

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award supports research that will focus on the generation, analysis and optimization of tensegrity structures. Tensegrity represents a class of structures composed of members in compression and tension in a self-equilibrated state. In this project, tensegrity systems are studied to conceive rapidly erected structures for traditional civil applications. However, the outcomes of this award extend beyond architecture and structures as tensegrity systems have been explored for a wide variety of engineering applications including metamaterials, planetary landers, soft robotics, as well as to model the mechanical behavior of biological cells. Although tensegrity structures have received significant interest among scientists and engineers, there is still no unifying theory on their generation and behavior. This research project thus seeks to develop a morphological framework that integrates design criteria with assembly and kinematics while providing architectural design freedom. The framework enables control over the behavior of tensegrity structures by decomposing complex systems into elementary tensegrity units. Inspired by tensegrity’s artistic origin, the research will also be complemented by developing learning modules centered on objects at the intersection of art, science, and engineering, exploring object-based learning in collaboration with educational experts and students. The goal of the research project is to develop a theoretical understanding of how morphology can be used to define the stability, equilibrium, deployability, structural response, sensing, and control in complex tensegrity structures. Specifically, the research approach includes a) understanding the relationship between cellular composition and mechanical behavior in tensegrity structures, b) enhancing the construction, analysis, sensing and control of tensegrity structures, and c) deriving a morphological framework for the generation and optimization of tensegrity structures with predefined and transformable forms, as well as tunable mechanical behaviors. To accomplish these objectives, a method that links topology identification and form finding through the cellular composition of tensegrity systems with cells being elementary tensegrity units will be explored. It is hypothesized that tuning the cellular composition of tensegrity structures along with their structural parameters can lead to desired shapes, optimized mechanical performance, and advantageous control methods. This project will allow the PI to advance the knowledge base in tensegrity systems and establish his long-term career in structural morphology. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.