New developments in robotics have allowed robots to become very small, and capable of completing tasks humans cannot. Current robots capable of achieving this are physically limited in how small they can be without compromising on other aspects such as sensing, strength, or complexity. Thus, we strive to understand how we can more compactly map complex mechanical outputs to a low number of mechanical inputs. This work presents a novel design for a hyper-redundant robot, capable of passive multiplexing. This is achieved using bistable joints at each link, with each link having a different bistable
moment in order to establish priority when multiplexing. In doing so, this simple mechanism is able to achieve individual joint control, and reach a variety of complex configurations.
To demonstrate the proposed robot, we construct an eleven linked mechanism and four linked mechanism, in which we demonstrate multiplexing, as well as high positional accuracy.
By simulating the mechanism, we also quantify a geometric relationship between individual links and the overall robot’s workspace.
