AbstractThe effect of boundary conditions on a bistable device that buckles into an “S” shape and utilizes polyvinylidene fluoride is evaluated. Four permutations with different center constraints are the perfectly pinned circular steel, rigid glued circular steel, 3×1 and 5×1 3D printed rectangle polylactic acid prototypes. Using a load of 30 MΩ, which was close to the optimal load resistance, frequency sweeps in the forward and reverse directions indicated different nonlinearities depending on if the device is buckled or not. Peak resonant frequencies for the devices are around 18 to 30 Hz with bistable actuation occurring as low as 0.3