SUMMARY

Modifications to Kresling cells give rise to new behavior and new applications, so we have developed a modified Kresling cell, referred to as an offset cell, in which the top and bottom faces of a Kresling cell are non- concentric in the folded state and angled in the expanded state. This modification maintains the bistability of Kresling cells and their general geometry to stiffness relationships and introduces new properties such as top face angle and a stiffness that differs depending on how force is applied to the cell. These relationships were verified through an analytical model and mechanical testing. Additionally, the walking robot uses an array of cells. This is an underutilized design space within Kresling robotics, which generally uses axially chained cells. The cell array is able to produce forward motion using a tripod gait, commonly seen in insects, where sets of cells alternately actuate and push the robot forward. Pneumatic actuation was explored to control the motion of the cell array, and a modular pneumatic cell construction was developed to easily swap and test new cells in the robot. This results in a walking robot whose framework can be used with many other actuation methods or for weight-carrying and multi-directional walking.



Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87205816959?pwd=NkYxWjdoQ29JNUNGckdRSnZraWZMQT09

Meeting ID: 872 0581 6959
Passcode: 123