Trunks $1,000

Type: tree | Size: large
COMPONENTS
Springy Trunk
Break Barrel Trunk
Swivel Trunk
Root Base
Uni-Adapter
PROBLEM

Light and telephone poles are not earthquake proof.

SOLUTION

Trunks is a next-generation utility pole platform engineered for flexible, repositionable, and seismically resilient deployment of power, lighting, communication, and Uni-Adapter infrastructure in municipal, commercial, and extreme environment contexts throughout the MTREES universe. Where a conventional light pole is a rigid steel tube embedded in concrete and therefore a liability the moment the ground beneath it decides to do something unexpected, a Trunk is a dynamic structural system that responds to its environment rather than resisting it until failure. Trunks are compatible with the Uni-Adapter ecosystem and each unit ships with a root base energy module at the foundation capable of storing electrical energy from grid or solar sources and distributing it to the pole body and attached components without an above-ground transformer box. The Trunk platform ships in three configurations: the Springy Trunk, which uses a multi-laminate composite flex joint at the base collar to allow the shaft to deflect up to 15 degrees in any direction under seismic, wind, or impact load and return to vertical under its own restoring force, dissipating kinetic energy through controlled elastic deformation rather than brittle fracture; the Break Barrel Trunk, which solves the access problem of conventional poles by placing all utility connections, junction hardware, and service stigmata at the base of the pole body within standing reach of a technician rather than at the top, eliminating the ladder, the bucket truck, the man strapped to the pole, and the associated liability; and the Swivel Trunk, which mounts on a motorized azimuth bearing at the base plate that allows the shaft to be repositioned to true vertical via remote command when the substrate it is mounted to has shifted, settled, or tilted, without excavation or reinstallation. Trunks do not dance. For dancing, there exists an air-powered inflatable tubular humanoid figure deployed outside establishments of varying quality whose full-body lateral oscillation at approximately 2 Hz represents a kinematic achievement that Trunks, with all of its engineering, cannot replicate and does not attempt to.

components

The Springy Trunk is the seismic and wind-resilient configuration of the Trunks pole platform, incorporating a multi-laminate glass-fiber and carbon-fiber composite flex joint assembly at the base collar that allows the pole shaft to deflect up to 15 degrees off vertical in any radial direction under dynamic loading without permanent deformation, recovering to within 0.2 degrees of true vertical upon load removal through stored elastic strain energy in the flex joint matrix. The flex joint is rated for 50,000 full-deflection cycles before scheduled replacement and is designed to be field-swappable without removing the pole from its foundation. The shaft above the flex joint is a standard-geometry tubular section compatible with all Trunk-series clamp collars, cross-arms, and Uni-Adapter mounts. The Springy Trunk was validated against seismic zone 4 requirements and sustained simulated Richter 7.2 event loading in accelerated shake table testing without loss of structural integrity or attached load.

Inspect

The Break Barrel Trunk is the service-access configuration of the Trunks pole platform, redesigning the conventional utility pole architecture by relocating all junction hardware, circuit breaker panels, fiber splice enclosures, and Uni-Adapter service ports from the top of the pole to a break-open barrel housing at standing height on the lower shaft body, accessible to a technician without any climbing equipment, elevated platform, or personal risk above ground level. The barrel housing opens via a quarter-turn key lock on two hinged panels that swing outward to expose the full internal wiring harness and service infrastructure in a single motion, with all connections labeled, color-coded, and terminated on standard DIN rail assemblies for rapid service. The upper shaft above the barrel housing contains only passive structural elements and fixture mounts with no serviceable connections, meaning the fixture at the top is replaced as a complete unit from the ground using a pole-mounted release mechanism rather than a technician ascending to disconnect it. The Break Barrel Trunk reduces average service time per pole from 47 minutes to 11 minutes in field trials and eliminates the category of incident in which a person falls off a pole.

Inspect

The Swivel Trunk is the repositionable configuration of the Trunks pole platform, mounting the pole shaft on a motorized precision azimuth and elevation bearing assembly at the base plate that allows the shaft to be driven back to true vertical by remote command when the substrate beneath the foundation has shifted, settled, or tilted due to seismic activity, soil creep, frost heave, or uneven compaction. The bearing assembly is driven by a brushless DC worm gear motor with a positional resolution of 0.05 degrees and accepts leveling commands from the ARC operator dashboard or from an onboard inclinometer that detects deviation beyond a configurable threshold and initiates auto-correction. The operational range of the bearing is plus or minus 12 degrees from center in any radial direction, covering the full range of substrate movement events observed in field deployment outside of liquefaction and major fault rupture scenarios, which are handled by a different product. The bearing is rated for outdoor continuous operation and sealed to IP67. The Swivel Trunk logs every correction event with a timestamp, magnitude, and direction vector, providing a continuous record of substrate movement at each installation point that has incidental value as a geotechnical monitoring dataset.

Inspect

The Root Base is a below-grade energy and resource storage module that forms the foundation assembly of every Trunk unit, occupying the excavated volume around the pole foundation anchor and providing electrical energy storage via a sealed LiFePO4 battery bank sized to 20 kilowatt-hours in the standard configuration, a grid AC input rectifier and charge controller, a solar MPPT input port accessible at grade level for photovoltaic array integration, and a pressurized water storage bladder of 200-liter capacity for Uni-Adapter water bus supply in off-grid or low-pressure supply scenarios. All stored resources are distributed upward through the Trunk shaft body to the Uni-Adapter ports and attached components without any above-ground equipment housing, transformer box, or meter base visible at the installation site. The root base enclosure is a rotationally-molded HDPE shell rated for permanent burial and groundwater immersion and is connected to the pole shaft body via a waterproof multi-conductor umbilical at the base collar. A grade-level access port sealed with a flush steel cover provides connection points for grid power, solar, water supply, and a diagnostic interface without requiring excavation for routine servicing.

Inspect

The Uni-Adapter converts anything to anything in any size, shape, scope or situation. Every integration is different. Until now.

Inspect
Inputs
Outputs
TREE
AVAILABLE INPUTS
AVAILABLE OUTPUTS
Schema
                            {
    "id": "tree_trunks",
    "name": "Trunks",
    "type": "tree",
    "inputs": [],
    "outputs": [],
    "passthru": [],
    "children": [
        "comp_springy_trunk",
        "comp_break_barrel_trunk",
        "comp_swivel_trunk",
        "comp_root_base",
        "comp_uni_adapter"
    ],
    "extends": null,
    "price": "1,000",
    "size": "large",
    "problem": "Light and telephone poles are not earthquake proof.",
    "description": "Trunks is a next-generation utility pole platform engineered for flexible, repositionable, and seismically resilient deployment of power, lighting, communication, and Uni-Adapter infrastructure in municipal, commercial, and extreme environment contexts throughout the MTREES universe. Where a conventional light pole is a rigid steel tube embedded in concrete and therefore a liability the moment the ground beneath it decides to do something unexpected, a Trunk is a dynamic structural system that responds to its environment rather than resisting it until failure. Trunks are compatible with the Uni-Adapter ecosystem and each unit ships with a root base energy module at the foundation capable of storing electrical energy from grid or solar sources and distributing it to the pole body and attached components without an above-ground transformer box. The Trunk platform ships in three configurations: the Springy Trunk, which uses a multi-laminate composite flex joint at the base collar to allow the shaft to deflect up to 15 degrees in any direction under seismic, wind, or impact load and return to vertical under its own restoring force, dissipating kinetic energy through controlled elastic deformation rather than brittle fracture; the Break Barrel Trunk, which solves the access problem of conventional poles by placing all utility connections, junction hardware, and service stigmata at the base of the pole body within standing reach of a technician rather than at the top, eliminating the ladder, the bucket truck, the man strapped to the pole, and the associated liability; and the Swivel Trunk, which mounts on a motorized azimuth bearing at the base plate that allows the shaft to be repositioned to true vertical via remote command when the substrate it is mounted to has shifted, settled, or tilted, without excavation or reinstallation. Trunks do not dance. For dancing, there exists an air-powered inflatable tubular humanoid figure deployed outside establishments of varying quality whose full-body lateral oscillation at approximately 2 Hz represents a kinematic achievement that Trunks, with all of its engineering, cannot replicate and does not attempt to.",
    "template": "tree"
}

Universe Alpha