ELAbot

Abstract

This paper presents the design, control system, and elastic behavior of ELAbot: a robotic bending active textile hybrid (BATH) structure that can self-form and transform. In BATH structures, equilibrium emerges from interaction between tensile (form active) and elastically bent (bending active) elements (Ahlquist and Menges 2013;Lienhard et al. 2012). The integration of a BATH structure with a robotic actuation system that controls global deformations enables the structure to self-deploy and achieve multiple three-dimensional states. Continuous elastic material actuation is embedded within an adaptive cyber-physical network, creating a novel robotic architectural system capable of behaving autonomously.State-of-the-art BATH research demonstrates their structural efficiency, aesthetic qualities, and potential for use in innovative architectural structures (Suzuki and Knippers 2018). Due to the lack of appropriate motor-control strategies that exert dynamic loading deformations safely over time, research in this field has focused predominantly on static structures. Given the complexity of controlling the material behavior of nonlinear kinetic elastic systems at an architectural scale, this research focuses on the development of a cyber-physical design framework where physical elastic behavior is integrated into a computational design process, allowing the control of large deformations. This enables the system to respond to conditions that could be difficult to predict in advance and to adapt to multiple circumstances. Within this framework, control values are computed through continuous negotiation between exteroceptive and interoceptive information, and user/designer interaction.