Generalized Construction of Bundle-Folding Linkages

Abstract

A mechanism which is able to fold into a bundle is of particular interest: minimal size facilitates storage and transport. The paper presents a simple and general geometric method to design bundle-folding linkages based on one-degree-of-freedom spatial overconstrained loops. The so designed mechanism can be folded into a line bundle and deployed into a spatial shape. The geometric conditions, under which an overconstrained linkage can be folded into a bundle, are discussed. Case studies of bundle-folding designs are presented and validated using simulations.