_Stunning_ mobile art - knocks my socks off!

phil · Post by **phil** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:48 pm

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/350/

It's been blogged, so it may take awhile to download, but _definitely_ worth it. For a quick fix, see here:

Fuller explanation at ecogeek, though.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 9:24 pm

The artist's site: http://www.strandbeest.com/

Ain't no Belgian fucking waffle.

Atar · Post by **Atar** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 3:02 am

That is fucking awesome. Want me to invite him to the playa? I'm dutch also

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:58 am

http://www.strandbeest.com/ doesn't seem to work for me.

Does anyone have any idea how that actually works? I know wind power but how does he capture it? He seems to do it fairly efficiently. The wings seem like they are driven by the same power source that powers the legs (not directly the wind but whatever device he uses which uses collected wind power). The way I'm mentally picturing it working the wings could not power it unless it relies on changes in wind speed (which it doesn't seem to). It also appears to work on compressed air (pneumatics). So I'm guessing that one side lets in high pressure air (wind side) and the other side lets out low pressure air (non wind side). Any ideas here?

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:59 am

I can pretend to be dutch too considering my name is Van Der Sluis.

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 8:04 am

Ain't no Belgian fucking waffle.

It's much greater IMO. The waffle had it's time and place and was great, don't get me wrong, but this is genius. As far as engineering goes it's beautiful and much grander than the waffle. Material selection, controls, driving mechanisms, harnessing free energy.

phil · Post by **phil** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 12:14 pm

Atar wrote:That is fucking awesome. Want me to invite him to the playa? I'm dutch also :)

Please do!

If he needs financial assistance, we'll find someone who knows how to apply for grants. His video on that larger site I linked to is sponsored by BMW, so maybe he can get the bucks there?

tzipora · Post by **tzipora** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:21 pm

Wow, WOw, WOW.
Gotta get this guy on the Playa next year.
This is amazing art.

StevenGoodman · Post by **StevenGoodman** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 11:38 pm

It is the most recent "cool thing". Doesn't mean it isn't cool; but I want to know more. Especially for those people who want it on the playa. It might be really nice at a 10mph wind (or whatever); but it a 60mph wind we find the thing in Gerlach?

But it is "cool". What is it made of, looks like PVC pipe?

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 6:20 am

Looks like plastic to me but it could also be some sort of reed (though that would probably be very time consuming to work with). It looks more rigid than pvc would be to me.

Zulegoona · Post by **Zulegoona** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:19 am

Bamboo

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 10:07 am

^ Are you guessing or do you know that? It looks like it but it looks like he made pneumatic cylindars out of the material.

skygod · Post by **skygod** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 10:57 am

That is so beautiful! I want to be like that guy!
I beleive its a little like a windmill, the flap on top appears to be flipped by the wind and winds up some rope, turns around and is flipped again, winding some more. I don't see anything pneumatic.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 11:12 am

http://www.digitaldrops.com.br/drops/20 ... s_k_1.html

Maybe he drives a BMW instead of a Volvo now.

Somebody's model of one of his mechanisms:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GgOn66knqA

phil · Post by **phil** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 12:55 pm

StevenGoodman wrote:It might be really nice at a 10mph wind (or whatever); but it a 60mph wind we find the thing in Gerlach?

Pro'bly - so what?

Let 'er rip, I say. If that thing can make it to Gerlach, I want a ride.

Mister Jellyfish Mister · Post by **Mister Jellyfish Mister** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:13 pm

Bob wrote:http://www.digitaldrops.com.br/drops/20 ... s_k_1.html

Maybe he drives a BMW instead of a Volvo now.

Somebody's model of one of his mechanisms:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GgOn66knqA

Thanks, Bob. Those links were helpful.

Cheers.

Post by **mdmf007** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:54 pm

Watch the video slowly - The wings turn a 16 stage crank, which in turn turns the cogs that make it walk - there are much better videos of it on Youtube.com

I woud love to get the design to this (with permission of course) and unleash it n the playa.

later all

skygod · Post by **skygod** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 5:11 pm

If BM is the Black Hole of Beauty that I think it is, something like that will be there next year.

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 5:16 pm

I woud love to get the design to this (with permission of course) and unleash it n the playa.

Why permission? Just do it. As long as you're doing it for personal use there are no legal problems that I know of. Also if you can build one I assume you'd probably make your own changes to it anyway. If he wanted his stuff to be secret he needs to hide it away. It no longer secret so in the free USA you can build away all you want.

I don't see anything pneumatic.

I think you're right. It was one of his short videos I saw that it looked like he was building a pneumatic cylinder but I looked again and I don't think he was.

The walking motion, though it looks complex, is pretty simple if you take a 3 unit class on 4 bar mechanisms. With a book or two and some drafting skills you can fairly easily design similar machines.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:55 pm

Or you could simulate it w/ twenty odd shirtcockers hefting a palanquin.

phil · Post by **phil** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 10:03 pm

> Or you could simulate it w/ twenty odd shirtcockers hefting a palanquin.

Depends on how strong it's blowing, I'd guess.

phil · Post by **phil** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 8:27 pm

Here's how you get that windwalker out there:

http://www.pinktentacle.com/2006/11/dek ... galleries/

Turn up the volume and play the video, too.

Post by **mdmf007** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 8:55 pm

This is the video I was referencing, It shows the mechanics very well and is actually quite simple. Of course the strandbeast is stuck in one direction. I thought about ways of making it able to turn like articulating it, or variable length drive shaft to shorten and lengthen one sides steps.

Check it out and you'll see. pretty cool animation too.

eric

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 9:53 pm

Don't even talk to the BRC-DMV. They'll make you put brakes on it.

Sorry about the palanquin. In consolation, here's a pangolin:

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:11 am

Thanks, Bob. My life has been running under the minumun Pangolin RDA for some time now...

Fex · Post by **Fex** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:36 am

Maybe you could photoshop that and have the pangolin being ridden by a harlequin playing a mandolin. Or even a Theramin.

Back to the walkers... I'd been trying to conceptualize a walking vehicle for awhile, but I was thinking along the spider-leg model and that seemed unworkable... clearly Jansen's walk design is more the way to go, but like Eric said, steering is something that has to be figured out. On Jansen's website he mentions that the Rhinocerous thing is intended to be a manned vehicle but so far everything he's made only walks a straight line.

Anything I've thought of either wouldnt work with the drive system, would put too much torque on the leg joints, or tear up the playa by grinding the feet into it. I've a decent background in biomechanics but I'm not an engineer... anyone else have any steering ideas that would be playa-safe?

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:50 am

Just tether it to a post and walk it around in circles.

Fex · Post by **Fex** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:30 pm

I prolly shoulda been more clear...Vehicle, not sculpture. A drivable machine that can be piloted.

I mean, what vehicle would be more mutant than one with legs instead of wheels?

I'm imagining either an rideable insect-looking thing (shades of Ray Bradbury's martians) or a Dr. Seussian thing with lots of big bare feet.

skygod · Post by **skygod** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:49 pm

The Pangolin is Nature's Shirt-Cocker.