http://www.workschedules.com/images/strandbeest3.gif
I was just pointed to this video and this video by a friend. I was so fascinated that think that I stopped breathing while I was watching it. Theo Jansen’s work is incredible. Is it art? Engineering? Science? All of the above? I have no idea, and am not sure I care. I just know it is incredibly cool and exciting to watch. I want to see it, watch it work, witness the monkey-link action, and be mesmerized by the fluid motion as it moves over the sand.
If you want to see how the mechanism works, there are several links to videos that explain the motion. The walking linkage is amazing. But first, just watch the “creatures” walk around, and enjoy them. They are just too cool to pass by quickly. There is a great interview with him from the Ars Electronica Festival.
I want to go home and start building one. I wonder if I can make one out of VEX parts…
Wow, you are right, their motion is so smooth. When it was showing right next to the legs as they were stepping, i was almost like you couldn’t tell they even started moving because it was so smooth. Good find!
Since about ten years Theo Jansen is occupied with the making of a new nature. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basic matierial of this new nature. He makes skeletons which are able to walk on the wind. Eventualy he wants to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives.
For some of the beests, I saw someone pushing or pulling it, and for the one in the second video, it appeared to be powered by compressed air (possibly a tank hidden in the fabric folds at top.
But how are the others powered? I just can’t see anything.
I mean, they work by a kind-of crankshaft principle, but what turns the shaft?
Based on what I have read across several descriptions of the machines, all of them are wind powered. For some of them, it is raw wind power used immediately to turn the crankshaft that drives the walking linkage. Others incorporate a small wind turbine that compresses air that is then stored in 2-liter plastic soda bottles and released later to a set of pistons to turn the crankshaft. The Wired magazine article mentioned that some of the machines use wind energy to generate and store compressed air for up to five days before releasing it in a burst of motion that may only last a few minutes. Then the machine resets and starts the cycle all over again.
Wow. I don’t think anything has captured my attention as this has in years. These… creatures (I hesitate to call them machines) are so incredible, fluid, and beautiful, that I’m surprised there aren’t more of them yet.
Sidenote, it would be neat to see something along these lines in a FRC game…
I also agree, these videos took my breath away… I encourage the regional planning committees to include art exhibits in their events like the UTC/New England/Hartford/Connecticut (whatever it’s called now) regional has. It’s always interesting to me to view the artwork that has been submitted. I want to build something like this! Who’s gonna help me?
If you enjoy this type of kinetic scultpture, you might enjoy fooling around with www.sodaplay.com - it allows you to build animated structures online and looks like a lot of fun.
I watched this last night and I was awestruck. Same with my parents. As the artist and engineer-wannabe that I am, I’m going to have to do something like this. It’s just amazing! I love how art and engineering frequently cross paths.
I actually built a small walking bot for one my my industrial design courses when we were tasked with making a mechanical toy:
Its all CNC’d lexan for the legs and the motors and electronics are from a cheap toy car, the cover is vacuum formed polystyrene and the chassis is welded steel. It was really awesome spending time developing and understanding how to make the legs give the correct motion, it was a neat project. Higher rez pic available over @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/tmbrudy/412339389/
