AirForce: Animatronics from a single tube
Researchers at the Hasso Plattner Institute built a fabrication system that creates large-scale moving structures from a single inflatable tube. The tube is both the structure and the actuator. No custom machinery. No separate pneumatic cylinders.
The system works in Blender. You model a static truss and the software routes a single tube through it in real time. When sections of the tube inflate, the structure bends. The same tube acts as a hinge, a muscle, and a skeleton.
Lifting 60 kilos
AirForce can lift 60 kg. The team achieved this in three steps. They tripled the tube cross section. They replaced traditional fin seals with lap seals, which allowed four times higher pressure. They swapped compressors for custom blowers with 50 times higher airflow.
Pack it flat, unfold on site
The structure ships flat, unfolds on site, and folds back into a different structure later. Near 100 percent material reuse. You can build a pavilion, pack it down, build a different pavilion. No waste. No permanent fixtures.
Stickers, velcro, and a knife
The fabrication process is manual. Users follow sticker markers generated by the software. The stickers show spacing along the tube. Velcro ties create airtight nodes. A kiss-cut knife opens inlets for blowers. That is the entire tool list. No custom hardware. No CNC. No 3D printing. A roll of tube and a weekend of work.
Based on research by Ramon Roessler, Ruben F. Schilling, Maria Santos, Diego Granados, Jotinder Riar, Nathan Vaska, Patrick Baudisch at the Hasso Plattner Institute. Paper and source code are open.
Open source
The project is fully open. The Blender plugin and the paper are on GitHub. Anyone can download the software, buy a roll of tube, and build their own actuated structure.