project I:Interview with Dr. Karel J. Vollers
On Thursday the 8th of December we had an interview with Mr. Vollers, to ask his opinion about our structure.
First we explained the idea and how we came to it, Mr. Vollers was quite enthusiastic and liked it. He confirmed us that it could work in real life, the structure could be made in a way that it rotates and stretches at the same time.
According to Mr.Vollers we were on the right track, the actuator inside the structure was on the right place but needed something to be protected from the bending force. We needed another layer to absorb the force coming from the other direction.
See the ‘image’ for his solution.
To rotate the whole structure you can use a rotating bar on the corners of the flexible part. If you use several gears to reduce the force it would be even easier. Than an engine can create the force to rotate the bars which are attached to the structure.
At the end of the interview Karel came with the idea of attaching the stretching part to the rotating bar, as an ‘crankshaft’. We need to find out if this could work within our structure.
