ZHANG Jiacheng, SONG Zigen
Tensegrity robots, characterized by their lightweight structure, deformability, and superior structural adaptability, exhibit broad application potential in fields such as planetary exploration and disaster rescue. Existing research on the actuation and control strategies for tensegrity robots has primarily followed the principle of minimizing the number of active cables. That is, in the design of the robot's actuation control, if contracting a single cable can induce motion, that cable is preferentially actuated while others remain inactive. This approach often requires a large contraction length of the single cable, which in turn leads to a longer response time in actuation control. As a result, the robot suffers from low locomotion efficiency, limiting its practical engineering applications. In this study, we take a three-rod tensegrity robot as the research subject. Based on the force density method, a systematic model of the tensegrity geometry and static equilibrium properties is established, and the relationship between force application and structural deformation is analyzed. Furthermore, by employing a rolling criterion based on center-of-gravity shift, a traversal search algorithm is designed, and a control strategy based on multi-cable coordinated actuation is proposed. This strategy reduces the required contraction length of any single cable, thereby decreasing the magnitude of structural deformation during motion and significantly shortening the response time of the actuation system. Finally, an experimental platform for the three-rod tensegrity robot, controlled by an ESP32-based system, is developed. Prototype experiments validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. The results demonstrate that, compared to the minimal-cable actuation strategy, the coordinated multi-cable actuation mode can notably reduce deformation amplitude and shorten response time.