Build “magic,” gravity-defying structures–with Legos, kite string, and physics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity

This has been a "thing" on reddit for a couple of weeks now and with lots of people being bored right now the results were quite diverse and interesting:

https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/g2230l/lego_tensegrit...

https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn/comments/g05lld/i_b...

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/g44sz8/my_first_attem...

https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/fcnum5/finally_...

https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/fh5cvo/thought_...

etc.

I have also seen a tensegrity flareup on Twitter. I'd love to know how this got started.

From Wikipedia there was a link to the SUPERball robot[1], pretty cool. But I wonder about the longevity of it, I assume they could use multiple wires per "strand" in case one breaks, but dust and sand seem like they could be big issues over time.

Still, pretty cool!

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkzeE6BVNIk

I recall seeing this "tension based" coffee table a while back. I'm glad I was reminded of it, it's super cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7pI0cHJQtY

There’s a great book I can’t recall the name of that puts forth the notion that we commonly make the mistake of modeling the human body as a compressive structure, when it is just as much or more a tensegretic structure.

We aren’t piled bone on bone like a concrete block house.

Fascinating idea.

I hadn't heard that applied at the level of the body, that's interesting!

Back when i was a cell biologist, i was very excited to read an argument that cells had tensegral structure:

https://jcs.biologists.org/content/116/7/1157

Here's a (work-in-progress?) monograph about the mathematics of tensegrities! Neat application of representation theory outside the standard examples from chemistry!

Connelly & Guest 2015, "Frameworks, Tensegrities, and Symmetry: Understanding Stable Structures"

http://pi.math.cornell.edu/~web7510/framework.pdf

Would you enter a building held up by tensegrity? I feel that to build the next generation of super massive structures in the 21st century we will have to use tensegrity concepts.

If it was properly engineered, sure, why not? It would be no different in principle from driving over a suspension bridge.

I assume all buildibgs I enter are properly engineered, but sometimes they're not. Two cases that come to mind:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_walkway_collapse

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/04/17/the_citicorp_t...

Both were essentially caused by people making assumptions. You would think such things would be thought through, but sometimes they're not.

You probably have already in a way:

https://www.concretenetwork.com/post-tension/basics.html

I need this on my desk.

it could be your desk

with the tension members on spools it could be adjustable sitting/standing