Stacked Tensegrity Mechanism for Medical Application

TL;DR

This paper introduces a multi-segmented planar tensegrity mechanism designed for medical applications, emphasizing its stability, workspace, and optimization for angular deflection.

Contribution

It presents a novel multi-segmented tensegrity mechanism with optimized design for enhanced workspace and stability in medical devices.

Findings

Mechanism achieves large angular deflections.

Optimization improves stability and workspace.

Family of mechanisms with similar workspace but different stability.

Abstract

In this article a multi-segmented planar tensegrity mechanism was presented. This mechanism has a three-segment structure with each segment residing on top of another. The size of the segments may decrease proportionally from base to top, resulting in a tapered shape from base to tip like an elephant trunk. The system was mechanically formulated as having linear springs and cables functioning as actuators. The singularities, as well as the stability of the parallel mechanism, were analyzed by using the principle of minimum energy. Optimization was also done to obtain the greatest angular deflection for a segment according to a ratio between the size of the base and the moving platform of the robotic system. The result of this work is a family of mechanisms that can generate the same workspace for different stability properties.