CAREER: Bio-inspired Controllable Tensegrity Structures

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The research objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) project is to develop new controllable tensegrity structures and motion control strategies by leveraging biological discoveries. The new structures will incorporate morphological and modeling innovations prompted by the benefits they bring to tensegrity systems encountered in biology. For example the membrane and intermediate filaments of the cytoskeleton are crucial in achieving structural integrity and morphing shape capabilities as well as sensing, control, and information transmitting functions of living cells. Likewise, internal cellular elements working close to their integrity limits explain why cells can resist extremely large forces. Therefore, membranes and intermediate filaments with sensing and control capabilities will be added to current tensegrity structures and the mathematical modeling assumptions will be relaxed to allow investigation of tensegrity structures close to their mechanical integrity limits. Also many living systems achieve fast and energy efficient motion control using elastic elements for actuation and articulated skeletons that resemble tensegrity structures. Based on the similarities between tensegrity and living structures, this research will develop new motion control strategies that exploit intrinsic properties of tensegrity structures such as prestressability and internal mechanisms. The research objective will be achieved by combining techniques and tools of graph theory, analytical mechanics, structural dynamics, control theory, as well as symbolic and numerical computation.If successful, the results of this research will answer crucial needs in science and engineering. In biology and medicine they will serve to: a) advance the fundamental understanding of the basic building block of living organisms, the cell; b) comprehend the connection between heart disease and cell?s structure; c) aid tissue and organ reconstruction research; d) explain how nature controls motion is a fast and energy efficient manner. In engineering the mathematical models and control strategies will be critical in validating tensegrity applications such as space telescopes, antennas, robots, thus enabling the jump from feasibility to implementation. In education the integrated research and education program will: a) promote inter- and multi-disciplinary education using tensegrity structures versatility; b) attract children to science using tensegrity structures fascinating appearance and properties; c) enhance the infrastructure for research and education by bringing together researchers from different fields.