Dynamically variable negative stiffness structures

Variable stiffness structures that enable a wide range of efficient load-bearing and dexterous activity are ubiquitous in mammalian musculoskeletal systems but are rare in engineered systems because of their complexity, power, and cost. We present a new negative stiffness-based load-bearing structur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science advances 2016-02, Vol.2 (2), p.e1500778-e1500778
Main Authors: Churchill, Christopher B, Shahan, David W, Smith, Sloan P, Keefe, Andrew C, McKnight, Geoffrey P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bioengineering - instrumentation
Bioengineering - statistics & numerical data
Biomechanical Phenomena
Humans
Materials Engineering
Robotics
SciAdv r-articles
Vibration
Weight-Bearing
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Summary:Variable stiffness structures that enable a wide range of efficient load-bearing and dexterous activity are ubiquitous in mammalian musculoskeletal systems but are rare in engineered systems because of their complexity, power, and cost. We present a new negative stiffness-based load-bearing structure with dynamically tunable stiffness. Negative stiffness, traditionally used to achieve novel response from passive structures, is a powerful tool to achieve dynamic stiffness changes when configured with an active component. Using relatively simple hardware and low-power, low-frequency actuation, we show an assembly capable of fast (100×) dynamic stiffness control. This approach mitigates limitations of conventional tunable stiffness structures that exhibit either small (
ISSN:2375-2548
2375-2548
DOI:10.1126/sciadv.1500778