Optimizing Morton's Tritangentless Knots for Rolling
Abigail Eget, Stephen K. Lucas, and Laura Taalman

Proceedings of Bridges 2020: Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Education, Culture
Pages 367–370
Short Papers

Abstract

Tritangentless knots have a curious and beautiful property: when realized as physical 3D printed models, they roll. Some tritangentless parameterizations roll more easily and freely than others. In this paper we numerically optimize parameters to obtain the most “aesthetically pleasing” rolling knots and then create physical models of these knots using 3D printing, thereby leveraging mathematical tools to obtain an elegant kinetic sculpture.

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