Campesato, Alberto
A. Campesato is an engineer and trained architect originally based in The Netherlands, active in the field of tensegrity since 2010. Passionate of lightweight structural systems, he committed to explore and challenge boundaries between arts, computer technology and manufacturing. As software engineer and manufacturing expert, mastering 3D printing technology, software architecture, CNC machining and manufacturing processes, he further developed the applicability of tensegrity in nowadays systems.
ACCED Technologies NLIT
A. Campesato formally is a principal of ACCED Technologies NLIT, firm based in Rotterdam and dedicated to R&D of tensegrity applicability.
Static Systems
Started as a project to further develop a software toolset to design free-form tensegrity systems, the toolbox became a mean to explore potential applicability of tensegrity in different context. Manipulating the shape of an input standard module tensegrity (diamond pattern), the software combining PSM (Particle Spring Model) with an integrated MAS (Multi Agent System) allows to freely design an arbitrary form matching design requirements specified by the user. A later development of the software enable to activate the system through a manifold of paths for kinetic morphing the shape, transforming the static configuration into an actuated system.
Kinetic Systems
citation from the "Dutch Design Week" entry of "L.E.L.A. project: Lightweight Exoskeleton Limb Anthropomorphic" - Klokgebouw | Hall 3 | Strijp-S presented in Oct. 2019
"Nowadays anthropoid robots question the role of human labor and its contribution into future society. Represented as bulky pre-industrial devices, they often fake human-like form. We draft a future where robotics implements human capabilities with systems closely related to natural organisms.
The research -summarized in a recent submitted patent- drafts for the first time the results of ten years research across fields of software engineering, design and manufacturing processes. The technology used -based in tensegrity principle- is here employed to give form to an actuated lightweight arm resembling a human arm. Based in an unprecedented application of tensegrity system, fundamental principles of nature display how forces of tension and compression intertwined materializing a minimal structural system. Because their lightweight, flexibility, transportability, minimal use of material and energy, this systems embrace a future of sustainable systems in terms of production cost and environmental compatibility. At a closer look, the actuated structural system appears as an hollow silicone body barely 1 mm thick, with no internal support: a glove manifesting an intrinsic rigidity. The object is suspended and punctured by multiple motors plugged into its skin. The body shows itself capable to perform complex motions similarly to an anthropomorphic arm."
Works
LEAF project - Lightweight Exoskeleton Aerial Vehicle
Lightness it is an important value that nowadays society has long considered and further pushed into research and design opportunity. With it, lightweight structural systems and their fragilities have been challenged and constantly reformulated. Among those quests, Tensegrity accomplishes what others have pursued in materials’ innovation: the feeling of emptyness and transparency. With the exhibition we intend to dissect their complexity and inspire applicability. Pushing further boundaries between arts and science just make us closer to nature in a diverging future of scarcity.
We imaged and built an hypothetical aerial vehicle -a flying wing- inspired by the suggestive drawings of H. Miyazaki. Exploded details of the object dissect the process of experimentation in tensegrity system design, widening the spectrum of future structural wonders. Stepping back to fundamentals and working on force balance, lightness and material economy, the innocent and crude execution of it, conceals instead a challenging task in terms of design, computing, problem solving, manufacturing and assembling.
Details account for the initial prototype for the tensional membrane using a biodegradable film; a series of nodes prototyped with a 3D printer studying different solutions for the jointing nodes; the final nodes and their silicone mold for a standardized cast with industrial resins; concluding the final membrane designed using the technology commonly employed in sails manufacturing.
See LEAF by ACCED technologies.
L.E.L.A. project: Lightweight Exoskeleton Limb Anthropomorphic
The project collects results of ten years research across fields of software engineering, design and manufacturing processes. Intended as a research project of the system applicability in the realm of soft-robotics, the project explores the potential of the technology to model free-form tensegrity systems and to manipulate them, showing tangible results of a lightweight system, actuated and programmed to simulate complex human gestures like shaking the hand. The technology used -based in tensegrity principle- is here employed to give form to an actuated lightweight arm resembling a human arm. Based in an unprecedented application of tensegrity system, fundamental principles of nature display how forces of tension and compression intertwined materializing a minimal structural system. Because their lightweight, flexibility, transportability, minimal use of material and energy, this systems embrace a future of sustainable systems in terms of production cost and environmental compatibility. The actuated structural system appears hollow at its interior, containing the whole structural system in the superficial skin, acting like a structural skin. The appearance is of a hollow silicone body barely 1 mm thick, with no internal support. The body manifests an intrinsic rigidity in its static state. Plugged motors manipulate strips' elements, interiorly to the skin, to actuate the whole system and to achieve the intended geometry transformation and the simulation of the movement. Multiple motors plugged into the structural skin, deform differently the skin to achieve the motion of the whole system. Motors are design to be elements plug&play. The body shows itself capable to perform complex motions similarly to an anthropomorphic arm. The overall system is composed of 10 distinct strips of casted silicone to follow the form of the designed arm. Out of the packaging, the strip originally lays flat, to be later easily assembled into the final configuration of the arm.
Video
IASS2015 Amsterdam
DDW2019
Publications & Patents
Links and References
"ACCED technologies" Website: https://accedtech.com/