Kinetostatic Analysis and Solution Classification of a Planar Tensegrity Mechanism

Abstract

Tensegrity mechanisms have several interesting properties that make them suitable for a number of applications. Their analysis is generally challenging because the static equilibrium conditions often result in complex equations. A class of planar one-degree-of-freedom (dof) tensegrity mechanisms with three linear springs is analyzed in detail in this paper. The kinetostatic equations are derived and solved under several loading and geometric conditions. It is shown that these mechanisms exhibit up to six equilibrium configurations, of which one or two are stable. Discriminant varieties and cylindrical algebraic decomposition combined with Groebner base elimination are used to classify solutions as function of the input parameters.