MSE Virtual Seminar: Katia Bertoldi, Harvard University

Description

Multistable structures - from deployable structures to robots

Katia Bertoldi 

Harvard University

Multistable structures can reversibly change between multiple stable configurations when a sufficient energetic input is provided. While originally the field focused on understanding what governs the snapping, more recently it has been shown that these systems also provide a powerful platform to design a wide range of smart structures.

In this talk, I will first show that pressure-deployable origami structures characterized by two stable configurations provide opportunities for a new generation of large-scale inflatable structures that lock in place after deployment and provide a robust enclosure through their rigid faces. Then, I will demonstrate that the propagation of transition waves in a bistable one-dimensional linkage can be exploited as a robust mechanism to realize structures that can be quickly deployed. Finally, while in the first two examples multistability is harnessed to realize deployable architectures, I will demonstrate that bistable building blocks can also be exploited to design crawling and jumping robots. Unlike   previously proposed robots that require complex input control of multiple actuators, a simple, slow input signal suffices to make our system move, as all features required for locomotion are embedded into the architecture of the building blocks.

For Webinar information please contact Kyle Page (kmp265@cornell.edu)