Learn Grasshopper Through the Jitterbug

What is the Jitterbug?

Discovered by Buckminster Fuller, the Jitterbug is a transforming polyhedron that demonstrates the relationship between several Platonic and Archimedean solids. It's a mechanism made of 24 rigid bars of equal length connected at 12 joints.

The Three States

Why This Teaches Grasshopper Well

The Jitterbug requires you to understand:

• Data structures — managing 12 points, 24 edges, 14 faces
• Topology — which vertices connect to which
• Constraints — maintaining fixed edge lengths
• Physics simulation — using Kangaroo to solve mechanisms
• Parametric thinking — driving geometry with parameters

Requirements

Installation Steps

The Canvas

Grasshopper is a visual programming environment. Instead of writing code line by line, you connect components (nodes) with wires.

Essential Components

For the Jitterbug, you'll use these core components:

Data Matching

Grasshopper processes lists of data. Understanding how lists combine is crucial:

Exercise: Create 12 Points

Before moving on, try this:

1. Place a Panel component
2. Enter: 0,0,0 (a 3D coordinate)
3. Connect it to a Construct Point
4. You should see a point at the origin in Rhino

The 12 Vertices

The cuboctahedron (Vector Equilibrium) has 12 vertices. In a coordinate system with edge length 6", these are permutations of (±a, ±a, 0) where a = 6/√2 ≈ 4.243.

# Vertex coordinates (edge length = 6")
a = 4.242640687  # 6 / sqrt(2)

V0  = ( a,  a,  0)
V1  = ( a, -a,  0)
V2  = (-a,  a,  0)
V3  = (-a, -a,  0)
V4  = ( a,  0,  a)
V5  = ( a,  0, -a)
V6  = (-a,  0,  a)
V7  = (-a,  0, -a)
V8  = ( 0,  a,  a)
V9  = ( 0,  a, -a)
V10 = ( 0, -a,  a)
V11 = ( 0, -a, -a)

The 24 Edges

Each edge connects two vertices. The edge length is always 6".

Edge Classification

Note: Each edge belongs to both a triangle AND a rhombus, totalling 24 unique edges.

The 14 Faces