“Binary Stiffness Compliant Mechanism EXPLAINED” - Binary Stiffness (Part 1)

This video depicts a translational binary stiffness compliant mechanism that achieves two different states of stiffness by being triggered using a simple switch. One state is very compliant while the other state is very stiff.

Details about this video are published in the journal, Extreme Mechanics Letters, and can be found at this link:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

A raw video of this mechanism was previously uploaded to my student, Reinier Kuppen’s, YouTube channel,
   / @reinierkuppens  
but this video is intended to explain the mechanical principles behind how the mechanism works.

The part files to 3D print this mechanism can be downloaded on Thingiverse at the following link:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:543...

This video is the first part of a five-part mini-series about binary-stiffness compliant mechanisms. Be sure to watch the other parts to learn more about how they work and for what applications they could be used.

Also, to understand more about compliant mechanisms in general, be sure to watch the other videos in my Compliant Mechanism Design series on this channel.

Acknowledgements:
This video would not have been possible without the brilliance of Reinier Kuppens, who designed the mechanism, so a huge thanks to him for the great work he did in my lab at UCLA! And although we jointly own the copyright on this material, I’m grateful to him for giving me permission to publish about the content.

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Disclaimer:
Responsibility for the content of this video is my own. The University of California, Los Angeles is not involved with this channel nor does it endorse its content.