Design Update #2 to Tensegrity Blocks

[Spencer W Hunter]

A semi-retraction: an anti-prism octet truss does show up in Fig. C-2 of
Appendix C in Wang's book, but all of his di-pyramid trusses have simplex
center poles that are perpendicular to the truss plane.  A di-pyramid
octet truss would have center poles at just over 32-degrees to the truss
plane, and that is the omission that I found startling.
--
Spencer Hunter, Tucson, AZ
gopher://www.u.arizona.edu:80/hGET%20/%7Eshunter

On Sat, 6 Aug 2005, Spencer W Hunter wrote:

> ref.: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~shunter/tblock.html
[...]
> Using Wang's taxonomy in his book, _Free-Standing Tension
> Structures_[1], Le Ricolais' octahedron--and his truss built from many
> copies of it--may be thought of in two ways that make it
> self-deployable: as an anti-prism and as a di-pyramid.
[...]
> Curiously, the deployable or self-deployable octet truss does *not*
> appear in Wang's book, which is even more remarkable considering that
> the solid-bar version is the most efficient truss configuration
> possible.
>
> References:
>    1. Wang Bin Bing, _Free-standing tension structures : from
>       tensegrity systems to cable-strut systems_, London ; New York :
>       Spon Press, 2004  ISBN 0415335957
[etc.]