Tensegrity Robotics Workshop

Tensegrity robots exhibit extreme deformations, impact resistance, and light weight, but their coupled dynamics and many degrees of freedom make them challenging to model and control.

Take this brief survey on challenges and opportunities in tensegrity robotics!

Thursday, October 5th from 8:30am - 5:30pm

Room 250C, Huntington Place, Detroit

Contact the organizers at xiaonanh@umich.edu

Abstract

Composed of rigid struts and compliant tendons, tensegrity robots boast a remarkable strength-to-weight ratio and demonstrate extraordinary shape morphability, stiffness tuning, and impact resistance. These favorable properties make tensegrity robots an attractive technology for the next generation of adaptive, multi-terrain robots. The unique advantages of tensegrity robots show promise for impact-resistant planetary rovers, pipe-climbing robots that can change their shape, lightweight aerial robots, adaptive underwater robots, and more. However, tensegrity robots’ compliance, coupled dynamics, and many degrees of freedom pose challenges in actuation, sensing, and control. No work to date has achieved the ultimate goal of demonstrating a fully autonomous, untethered tensegrity robot that is capable of navigating unstructured terrain and surviving mechanical impacts. To address this grand challenge, the field of tensegrity robotics needs more research into tools and technologies for automated system design, state estimation, environmental sensing, and autonomous navigation. This workshop aims to bring together not only researchers who study tensegrity robots but also experts in complementary domains, specifically modular robotics, control systems, and sensing and perception, who can provide insights into and solutions to open challenges in our field. In this workshop, we will showcase the state of the art of tensegrity robotics, discuss the grand challenges tensegrity robots face, attract and engage new participants in the field, and facilitate future collaborations.

Invited Speakers

Alice Agogino

University of California, Berkeley

Professor

Muhao Chen

Texas A&M University

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dario Floreano

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)

Professor

Ryota Kobayashi

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Master's Student

Andrew Sabelhaus

Boston University

Assistant Professor

Hannah Stuart

University of California, Berkeley

Assistant Professor

Vishesh Vikas

University of Alabama

Assistant Professor

Mark Yim

University of Pennsylvania

Professor

Details

Technical Program

The technical program comprises invited and contributed talks from professors, leading experts, postdoctoral researchers, and students. The talks present state-of-the-art research specifically in tensegrity robotics and broadly in complementary fields.

Poster Session and Live Demonstrations

Contributed abstracts were selected for poster presentations and live demonstrations. The poster and demo sessions overlap with coffee breaks and promote discussions among the participants.

Panel Session

All speakers are invited to a roundtable panel discussion focusing on connecting the grand challenges in tensegrity robotics and seeking solutions. The audience will have the opportunity to ask the panel questions.

Schedule

All times are in UCT-4 (Eastern Daylight Time)

Time	Speaker	Topic
8:30 - 8:40	Organizing Committee	Opening, agenda, introductions
8:40 – 9:10	Ryota Kobayashi	Soft Tensegrity Modules with Thin Artificial Muscles and Their Robotic Applications
9:10 – 9:40	Mark Yim	Issues in the Range of Motion of Truss Robots
9:40 – 10:00	Luyang Zhao	Untethered Self-Reconfiguring Flexible Modular Robots for Field Deployment
10:00 – 11:00		Coffee Break and Live Demonstrations
11:00 – 11:30	Dario Floreano	Modular Tensegrity Robots with Variable Compliance
11:30 – 12:00	Alice Agogino	From Space Exploration to Emergency and Climate Response: Challenges and Opportunities
12:00 – 12:20	Shuhei Ikemoto	Tensegrity Manipulator driven by Numerous Actuators as Abstract and Reliable Musculoskeletal Structures
12:20 – 13:20		Lunch
13:20 – 13:50	Muhao Chen	Tensegrity Automated Systems: Integrating Structure and Control Design Using the Least Necessary Resources
13:50 – 14:20	Hannah Stuart	Considering Granular Terrain in Tensegrity Locomotion
14:20 – 14:40	Sha Yi	Passive Coupling in Modular Robots
14:40 – 15:00		Poster Spotlight Talks
15:00 – 16:00		Coffee Break and Poster Presentations
16:00 – 16:30	Andrew Sabelhaus	Challenges in Control Across Stiffness Scales: From Tensegrity to Softness
16:30 – 17:00	Vishesh Vikas	Tensegrity Manipulators and Locomotors
17:00 – 17:30	Invited and Contributed Speakers	Panel Discussion

Demos and Posters

Live Demonstrations

James Clinton, Sha Yi, and Zeynep Temel. "Enhancing Heterogeneous Swarm Locomotion Through Simple 1-DOF Arm Mechanisms."
Idris Hussain, Muhao Chen, David Capps, and Manoranjan Majji. "Tensegrity Actuated Origami Systems for Deployable Aerospace Structures."
William R. Johnson III, Xiaonan Huang, Shiyang Lu, Kun Wang, Kostas Bekris, Joran Booth, and Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio. "Tensegrity Locomotion with Closed-loop Control."

Poster Presentations

Shuhei Ikemoto. "Tensegrity Manipulator driven by Numerous Actuators as Abstract and Reliable Musculoskeletal Structures."
Alireza Tofangchi, Bismah Rana, Logan Lewis, Alexander Cooper, Douglas Jackson, and Dan O. Popa. "Design of Continuum Robot with Variable Arm Stiffness and Tensegrity Joints."
Estelle Raffy, Martin Garrad, and Helmut Hauser. "Towards Adaptive Multistability in Tensegrity-based Robotic Systems."
Ryota Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Nabae, and Koichi Suzumori. "Ball Throwing Tensegrity Robot Driven by Thin Pneumatic Artificial Muscles."
Idris Hussain, Muhao Chen, David Capps, and Manoranjan Majji. "Tensegrity Actuated Origami Systems for Deployable Aerospace Structures."
Luyang Zhao, Yitao Jiang, and Devin Balkcom. "Untethered Self-Reconfiguring Flexible Modular Robots for Field Deployment."
Kun Wang, William R. Johnson III, Shiyang Lu, Xiaonan Huang, Joran Booth, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio, Mridul Aanjaneya, and Kostas Bekris. "Real2Sim2Real Transfer for Control of Cable-driven Robots via a Differentiable Physics Engine."