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DESIGN OF WEARABLE TENSEGRITY STRUCTURES FOCUSING ON THE TENSION PROPAGATION FUNCTION THROUGHOUT THE BODY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2023

Hiroki Wakashima ,
Kodai Kishino ,
Shinpei Iizuka ,
Masahiro Tamachi  and
Shigeru Wesugi
Hiroki Wakashima
Affiliation:
Waseda University
Kodai Kishino*
Affiliation:
Waseda University
Shinpei Iizuka
Affiliation:
Waseda University
Masahiro Tamachi
Affiliation:
Waseda University
Shigeru Wesugi
Affiliation:
Waseda University
*
Kishino, Kodai, Waseda University, Japan, [email protected]

Abstract

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Humans are able to perform skilful movements by coordinating muscles throughout the body. It has been revealed that not only neural mechanisms but also direct and dynamic interactions between body parts contribute to muscular coordination. Tensegrity, accurately biotensegrity, can be considered to the basic mechanism for the interactions. Tensegrity structures are composed of tensile and compressive components, and are lighter and more flexible than existing rigid structures. The authors investigated designing wearable tensegrity structures for extending human motor ability, especially assisting in carrying heavy objects. Based on Flemons' spine model, we devised a columnar tensegrity structure that can be expanded to the size of the whole body, and connected each of four columns to the front and back of the body on right and left side. The wearable tensegrity structures can deform flexibly due to tension distribution when external force is applied, and follow the human motions in twisting trunk and walking. Experimental results in carrying heavy objects showed that some muscle activities around hip and knee tended to decrease by using the structures when those joints extended.

Keywords

TensegrityMotion assistDesign for interfacesBio-inspired design / biomimeticsCase study
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 3: ICED23 , July 2023 , pp. 1287 - 1296
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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