3D‐Printing Aided Rapid Prototyping of Pretensioned Tensegrity Structures for Robotic Applications

Tensegrity structures have garnered significant attention due tounmatched low mass per load bearing unit and programable stiffness. However, traditional fabrication methods often rely on labor‐intensive manual assembly, which becomes particularly demanding for complex tensegrities requiring precise pretensioning equilibrium. While recent advances have improved fabrication of simple tensegrity modules, large and intricate tensegrities remain difficult to produce. In this article, we present a fabrication method that relies on modular mold design, injection molding, and compact channel layout to facilitate the rapid prototyping and manual assembly of large, complex tensegrity systems with equilibrated pretension. The proposed method also enables the design and fabrication of modular tensegrity structures with diverse stiffness regions to match desired load bearing capabilities or deform in desired configurations under external or internal force. The method is validated with the design, fabrication, and demonstration of two tensegrity robots, a gripper and a quadruped. The method substantially reduces the manual production of diverse and modular tensegrity structures with desired load‐bearing capabilities and deformations, and makes the tensegrity prototyping easier, faster, and more controllable, thus paving the way to the design of a variety of lightweight tensegrity structures at multiple scales.