GALCIT Colloquium

The Coded Structure Laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center is working to develop scalable methods for manufacturing high performance materials and structures by reversible modular assembly. Combining recent advances in robotics, composite material optimization, and lightweight engineered lattice materials, we demonstrate discrete building-block based approaches to tunable flexible aerostructures and mobile robotic assembly of ultralight mechanical metamaterials for space infrastructure. This work is both theoretical and experimental in nature and employs multidisciplinary analyses to understand the mechanics of new mechatronic and structural strategies, and to develop predictive analytical models for the design of systems with novel behavior and manufacturability.