Wireless Vibrating Tensegrity Robot

I designed and developed a wireless vibrating tensegrity robot during my junior and senior years of my undergraduate at Union College as a part of Dr. John Rieffel’s research on evolutionary robotics and morphological communication. The struts were designed to excite the resonant frequencies of the robot.

• Designed, modeled, fabricated, and tested a wireless vibrating tensegrity strut to complete the world’s first wireless vibrating tensegrity robot, which serves as a reliable and modular test subject for genetic algorithm experiments.

• Designed for rapid manufacturing (only necessary fabrication processes are: laser cutting, waterjet cutting, and soldering)

• Developed a resonance model of a single strut to validate the FEA model for the resonant modes of the robot.

• Designed a custom vibration motor to match the resonant frequency range and maximize amplitude.

• Implemented onboard IMU and data collection for motion tracking of individual struts during locomotion.