## 1 Introduction  
Smart systems have been used in various fields of applied science for years. Civil engineering, however, is a relatively new area of application for such solutions [1]. Nevertheless, many ongoing and recent research projects have focused on the investigation and implementation of smart technologies in the field of structural engineering [2; 3; 4; 5]. Engineering structures, such as buildings or bridges, are subject to various actions, among which the most dangerous ones are accidental loads. It may be a challenge for an engineer to design a structure that would react to such accidental loading by modifying its own properties. It is possible with the use of smart technologies. Such intelligent technologies apply both to materials and structures. However, considering the immense costs of implementing smart materials into structural elements, the authors focus on structural smartness rather than the material one. Smart structures can be defined as systems with the ability to sense and respond adaptively to changes in their environment [6]. In contrast to standard, \"traditional\" structures, they adapt in a pre-designed manner to a functional need, by modifying their shape, stiffness or damping characteristics in order to minimize deflections and avoid potential damage. Typically, the main idea of smart techniques is the integration of sensors, actuators and control mechanisms into one, fully-functional and coherent system that becomes an integral part of the structure. Such a system is able to sense changes in the environmental conditions and react to the stimulus in a predicted way, in real time or close to real time. However, neither the external devices installed on the structure, nor the applied intelligent technologies make the structure smart. The structure itself should have some special properties, referred to by the authors as \"inherent\", which allow controlling it without any operation from the outside. To the inherent properties of smart structures belong:  
* self-control,* self-diagnosis,
* self-repair,
* self-adjustment (active control). The tensegrity concept is a topic of particular interest in engineering sciences because of the possible smart structure applications. The term \"tensegrity\" was first introduced by [PERSON] (see [7] for historical details). Several definitions of this concept can be found in the literature [7; 8; 9; 10; 11]. For the purpose of this paper, a tensegrity structure is defined as a pin-jointed system with a particular configuration of cables and struts that form a statically indeterminate structure in a stable equilibrium. Tensegrities consist of a discontinuous set of compressed elements inside a continuous net of tensioned members, which have no compressive stiffness. Infinitesimal mechanisms that occur in tensegrity structures are balanced with self-stress states [12; 13; 14]. The occurrence of a self-stress state in a structure indicates that there is a certain set of internal forces in structural members, which are independent of external loading and boundary conditions because they are in self-equilibrium. Tensegrity systems have many advantages, such as: large stiffness-to-mass ratio, deployability, reliability and controllability [7; 8]. Moreover, tensegrities have some unique features that result from the infinitesimal mechanisms, which are stabilized by self-stress forces. It is possible to control their static and dynamic properties by adjusting the pre-stressing forces [15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20]. Smart uses of tensegrity structures have been an attractive area of scientific effort in recent years. A detailed description of the extreme softening/stiffening response of tensegrity modules can be found in [21; 22] with a general view toward applications of smart extreme materials. A study of dynamic control problems can be found in [23] and the references therein. Bridge engineering applications were recently presented in [24; 25].