Abstract
Tensegrity structures have been applied in various fields in science and engineering. In civil engineering, tensegrity structures have been used to construct lightweight yet strong structures, while in aerospace applications, it has been shown that tensegrity systems have great potential for active applications such as planetary exploration. Therefore, active tensegrity systems have been under investigation for small, light-weight, and low-cost missions. However, the robustness or damage tolerance of a tensegrity structure is a function of its inherent self-equilibrated prestress states. Although research into tensegrity systems has resulted in reliable techniques for their form-finding and analysis, no technique has been found previously that integrates damage tolerance as an input or output parameter. This paper reflects an effort to integrate damage tolerance in the form-finding process of tensegrity structures through a bio-inspired approach that combines topology definition and form finding.
