
Build “magic,” gravity-defying structures–with Legos, kite string, and physics - DoreenMichele
https://www.wired.com/story/wait-that-table-has-no-legs/
======
huhtenberg
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity](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/lego/comments/g2230l/lego_tensegrity_structure/)

[https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn/comments/g05lld/i_b...](https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn/comments/g05lld/i_built_my_own_tensegrity_table/)

[https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/g44sz8/my_first_attem...](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/g44sz8/my_first_attempt_at_a_tensegrity_table/)

[https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/fcnum5/finally_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/fcnum5/finally_finished_my_tensegrity_design_with_a/)

[https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/fh5cvo/thought_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/fh5cvo/thought_a_tensegrity_table_was_a_bit_boring/)

etc.

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magicalhippo
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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkzeE6BVNIk)

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jedimastert
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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7pI0cHJQtY)

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whiddershins
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.

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twic
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](https://jcs.biologists.org/content/116/7/1157)

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benrbray
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](http://pi.math.cornell.edu/~web7510/framework.pdf)

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xwdv
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.

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

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RandomBacon
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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_walkway_collapse)

[http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/04/17/the_citicorp_t...](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/04/17/the_citicorp_tower_design_flaw_that_could_have_wiped_out_the_skyscraper.html)

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

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thomaslkjeldsen
I need this on my desk.

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tejtm
it could be your desk

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

