Tensegrity Prisms etc. 5

Hi

This post is mainly to say that I have moved the files for my "Wheel Construction Kit" to Thingiverse from another site. At the other site I had 0 downloads despite the design being free, and I have abandoned the other site now.  The original posts about its development started here and ended here.

Basically the wheel can be used to make all the things shown above. When I was making and using the stick frame version about a year ago, I wrote

"So from my last posts here and here, I showed a 4 wheel steering model car and a rubber band driven model car, and from some studies I had been doing, knew about the concept of energy being stored in the frame of a vehicle.  So the designs all whooshed together, and I came up with the model shown on this page.  The sticks which are the frame and the power source are very flexible, green, late winter growth twigs just about to burst into flower.
Ok, not the most refined thing, but I think printing them in schools and seeing what kids would come up with would be a great practical way to introduce energy storage and conversion. In 2040, Norway plan to have all their planes electric, so in the next 20 years, the storage of energy in lightweight structural materials will become a major development goal.  The storage may start in batteries that come with solar panels, then evolve through batteries for bicycles and velomobiles and cars, until, finally, the entire frame of airplanes do double duty as a battery.
So what about the future for the Wind-Up-Frame-Car I've made?  I have some plans to go big and go slightly less rough with the design.  Will keep you posted."

Well the Wind-Up-Frame-Car did have a future but it was in the form of an article which talked about some of the vehicles I've speculated on. The article has now been peer reviewed and will be presented at a conference in Canberra in about a month. Here is a preview via Researchgate.



For some videos, of some of the models, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkpOLmo43hk&feature=youtu.be (wind up car) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93CuX6bkKd4&feature=youtu.be (towers 1) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naUxUCjhTx0&feature=youtu.be (towers2)

Regards

Steve Nurse