Strandbeest

https://www.strandbeest.com/

by nicopappl • 2 years ago

421 107 2 years ago

strandbeest.com

frumenty• 2 years ago

Since the video on the site isn't working https://youtu.be/C97kMKwZ2-g?feature=shared

anfractuosity• 2 years ago

Really love the idea of the strandbeest :)

He also sells little miniature ones too - https://www.strandbeest.com/shop/animaris-ordis-parvus

bensmoif• 2 years ago

Bought one of these miniature kits years ago and kept it on my desk at work and goddamn is it cool and fun and works great! Really encourage any model machine nerds to get one.

ElCapitanMarkla3• 2 years ago

Oh those ones look much better than the one I brought off AliExpress years ago. Not to mention it was missing a bag of parts and they wanted me to send them a photo of the missing parts…

layer84• 2 years ago

The miniature in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9CENC972pY

xnx• 2 years ago

Accidental strandbeest: https://www.tiktok.com/@ronygarcia15/video/74053667625453683...

hinkley2• 2 years ago

I need his heart. Please give it back.

mhb2• 2 years ago

OK I'll be the one. Not sure why these get so much love. Sure they're cool-looking untethered kites but all the nonsense about "creating new forms of life" - really?

dyauspitr3• 2 years ago

That’s just interesting lore.

mhb2• 2 years ago

It's PR gobbledygook he made up to make these seem more interesting than the mechanical tumbleweeds that they are.

worldsayshi• 2 years ago

I think as a programmer they fascinate me because they feel as simple and elegant as a boid algorithm and looks like life in a similar way but they also exist in the real world. It gives you the idea that you could build other similar simulated life like things.

RodgerTheGreat• 2 years ago

It's partially euphemism, but there's also more substance to it than you may realize.

The ratios in the Jansen linkages were originally developed through genetic algorithms in computer simulations. Jansen now builds multiple generations of machines at once and has them compete in various "survival" tasks on the beaches, prioritizing further development based on the success of each "mutation"; an ongoing human-assisted evolutionary process.

The Strandbeest machines are also capable of much more sophisticated behavior than may be evident: they pressurize air using wind power and store it in bottles, which in turn run pneumatic "nervous systems" made from logic gates, oscillators, and flip-flops. As the machines have grown more sophisticated they've gained the ability to sense the waterline (with ground-trailing hoses that detect back-pressure from water) and avoid it, to anchor themselves to the ground when it gets too windy, to steer around simple obstacles, and so on.

Strandbeest machines reproducing independently from humans would be a pipe-dream, but at the very least they should be understood as autonomous, biomimetic robots at the same time as they are sculptures.

iterateoften• 2 years ago

I don’t care either way about this conversation, just thought it was interesting, but what you described is essentially every engineered thing.

A pocket watch has more complexity than what you are describing but isn’t any closer to “artificial life” then any other engineered thing that takes and stores external power.

gedy• 2 years ago

Bear in mind he is an artist, and it's de rigueur to have some story or concept with what you make. I learned this the hard way when I used to do algorithmic art back in college, you can't just say what it is or how you made it.

1attice• 2 years ago

I came here to say this -- OP seems to be reacting not to the work itself, but to the framing. It reminds me of how my friends used to jump down my throat when I said 'AI' instead of 'Machine Learning' -- they had a point; 'Artificial Intelligence', as a coinage, is tendentiously animistic (just like Jensen's 'new forms of life'.)

Yet, of course, that's exactly how we encounter LLMs! The whole _point_ of ChatGPT isn't to do a "mechanical learning" (whatever that might be,) it's to create an experience that is more reminiscent of talking to another human being. An 'intelligence', if you will, but artificial.

At some point, we will need to tease out why engineering culture is so huffy about articulating its own goals; I have this mental image of a magician standing on stage, berating his audience for ever believing that rabbits could ever be made to come out of hats, all the while collecting a tidy sum for doing just that.

neoberg• 2 years ago

It's lore. Superman is also cool-looking and the whole story around it just adds depth; no one thinks it's real.

ramblerman• 2 years ago

I think its a cool exploration between art and engineering, with the end effect looking lifelike and emergent. It reminds me of the game of life.

But yeah the peanut gallery with 30k in hn karma probably have something snarky to say about it.

gitaarik• 2 years ago

The artist's idea is that these machines can ultimately roam the beach independently without the need of human interaction. They also don't need fuel since they only move from the wind they catch. At the same time it looks like some kind of weird huge animal (strandbeest translates to beach beast). And it's an art project so yeah I get why he calls it like that.

binwiederhier• 2 years ago

Relatedly, here's a 3D printed, mechanical version of it: https://youtu.be/nHqqCRVlUus?si=p_q78n_nKYZhykNt -- By Engineezy, great YouTube channel.

ElCapitanMarkla3• 2 years ago

When you said 3D printed, I wanted expecting that scale. That was cool

alwinaugustin• 2 years ago

Looks beautiful.

throwaway920102• 2 years ago

For anyone who wants to know more:

This is an application of Jansen's linkage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansen%27s_linkage

There are other similar linkages but Jansen's is quite good.

For anyone who doesn't have an idea why something like this matters or is inspiring beyond art, legged vehicles have many downsides but one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission associated with tires and wheeled vehicles if you can make legged vehicles as good as wheeled ones.

Even an electric battery vehicle with an electric motor charged by a solar/wind/nuclear power plant still emits pure poison into the air and waterways through friction between tires and the road.

Good alternatives would be biocompatible tires (Nitinol mesh tires like SMART Tire company's initial prototype that lacked the rubber coating) or legged vehicles.

polishdude202• 2 years ago

Wouldn't a legged vehicle still have that problem if it can achieve the same speeds and weights that regular cars go at?

Scale up a human for example to the weight and speed of a car. Crazy powerful and big legs, big feet, big shoes. The rubber must hit the road either way and push down with a force to propel the weight of this car-heavy legged human at speeds of 100km/h. It would still wear rubber away just like tires do.

Legged vehicles aren't a replacement for regular vehicles if tire particulates are your concern.

necovek7• 2 years ago

Couldn't you do away with rubber and shoes since for legs you don't need flat, smooth roads either (so metal legs of a multi-ton vehicle won't have anything to damage too bad).

For comfort, you could have springs and air and hydraulic dampeners.

fragmede• 2 years ago

The rubber must hit the road

if the wheels were metal and the roadway was also metal, but arranged into parallel small roadways, then we could avoid using rubber and not have the problem of rubber particulates.

user_7832• 2 years ago

It would still wear rubber away just like tires do.

It’s been a hot minute since I learnt rolling friction in high school physics but (iirc) a very interesting and unintuitive aspect of it is that there’s always an opposing/slowing force on a (rubber) wheel. Only a slippping wheel will not experience a slowdown. Static friction is different from rolling friction, and (I think) can offer zero wear in ideal conditions - but rolling wear is always non-zero.

immibis• 2 years ago

Yes indeed - Jansen's machines are applications of Jansen's linkage :)

hinkley2• 2 years ago

I feel like your choice of phrasing downplays the fact that the strandbeest is created by the guy the principle is named after.

lucianbr3• 2 years ago

It says these are made of plastic pipe. Doesn't the pipe wear down where it contacts (or even slides in the video) the ground, creating microplastics?

Also, it already slides some of the time in the videos. Not sure what the advantage is over a simple slide dragged by a sail.

ninininino2• 2 years ago

Strandbeest is just one legged vehicle. But I was just going on a tangent about an important aspect of legged vehicles in general.

jpk• 2 years ago

legged vehicles have many downsides but one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission associated with tires and wheeled vehicles if you can make legged vehicles as good as wheeled ones.

How do you square this idea with the fact that my running shoes wear out? I'm a legged vehicle, and it's clear that the soles of my shoes wear down over time and the lost mass of the rubber went somewhere.

Whether legs or wheels, there are going to be contact patches that have to endure some quantity of sheering force when the vehicle is doing anything other than remaining stationary. It's this sheering force that grates the particulates away from tires, and I presume a legged vehicle would need a tire-like compound on the surfaces it uses to contact the road. So why would legs be different in this regard?

burkaman• 2 years ago

You could wear wooden clogs or something. It would be uncomfortable but if you were a robot you wouldn't care. They would still wear out, but sawdust is less permanent than microplastics.

dyauspitr3• 2 years ago

That’s a dumb reason. A reason for reasons sake.

These matter because they are beautiful and make people happy. They’re also appreciable technical achievements.

monooso• 2 years ago

For anyone who doesn't have an idea why something like this matters or is inspiring beyond art...

(Emphasis mine)

The OP acknowledges that these are beautiful, and then explains other reasons why this work may be interesting or important.

There's nothing dumb in that.

xg152• 2 years ago

Isn't another advantage of legged vehicles being more applicable to uneven/unstable terrain? (Like in this case the constantly shifting water/mud/sand boundaries of a beach)

If you wanted to build a similar contraption that is powered by wind but moves on wheels, I imagine there is a much larger chance of it getting stuck.

crazygringo• 2 years ago

Sure, but on the other hand legs produce a LOT more force/weight per square inch, which can lead to them sinking more easily.

Which is why what the military uses for unstable terrain is treads like you see on tanks. Same for construction equipment that operates on soft soil.

Cthulhu_2• 2 years ago

You seem to posit that legged vehicles doing 100+ km/h for hundreds of thousands of kilometers do not have as much wear and tear as rubber tires do. What is that based on? And does it have the same or better friction / energy efficiency?

(I know the answers, I'm just trying to provoke you into thinking about your comment)

IncreasePosts• 2 years ago

Are any companies doing r&d for drop in tire replacements that don't have as much of an issue with micro plastics?

ninininino2• 2 years ago

SMART tire company

samstave• 2 years ago

So many people dont know this - the tire muck that comes from theforever chemicals used in all tire manufacture is horrifically bad - to the point where one eco guy I was listening to basically gave up when he learned just how bad the chemicals from tires are. (ill try to find the podcast) -- and he notes how Humans tried to make reefs out of tires for Ocean Life.

In dystopian Dark Mirror Humor, I bemused myself with the day dream thought that Michelin Star restaurants, whom are awarded 3 stars for the distance one should be willing to drive is greatest with more stars - meaning that you should be willing to make a journey to the off-beaten path to visit and eat this food (which has yet to be em-poisoned with the forever chemicals our Tires have put into all the densely populated environments, thus this Elite Food is Clean.

rajnathani• 2 years ago

There are tire particulate matter capture devices out there, in research at least [0]. This solution plus having a heavy vehicle weight-dependent tax could help (i.e. encouraging more 2 (or 3) wheeler transportation regardless of whether motorized or not).

[0] https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/195595/worlds-first-device-c...

YeGoblynQueenne• 2 years ago

There's a question of course about why we're not using legged machines but I think you're way over-thinking this. Strandbeests are just a cool and beautiful art project and there is no more justification that they need than that. Art has a utility all of its own without having to inspire engineering works.

Besides which strandbeests are made of plastic tubing which kiind of weakens your argument about environmental friendliness.

dcuthbertson• 2 years ago

If your goal is to replace rubber tires, then how about going whole hog and turn the entire road system into a railway system? Tires made of steel, parallel tracks, lots of switching, perhaps regional control systems to guide computerized vehicles along the fastest route keeping safe distances between cars, and cars that automatically link and unlink to create dynamic trains along shared routes. I think that would be a very cool system (although outrageously expensive to realize).

chairmansteve• 2 years ago

"but one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission associated with tires".

Flying cars would solve this problem.

vulkd• 2 years ago

These are fantastic. Reminds me of the structures ("choruses"?) from "A Topiary" script by Shane Carruth (the same bloke who made Primer). The first act's "pattern-seeking" premise is great, too. I think anyone who enjoys films such as Aronofsky's Pi, Linklater, Kaufman, etc would enjoy at least skimming through the first act.

- Script: https://indiegroundfilms.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/20...

- Script Reviews: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17338551-a-topiary

- Trailer (Not sure if legit) showing the Strandbeest-like creatures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16vaQ9Tv8Lc

jes5199• 2 years ago

I love this script, it's a shame that it will probably never be a film. The philosophy question it implies - does science and technology have its own teleology, and if so is that good or evil - is one that fascinates me

for anyone who doesn't know the history, Carruth shopped this script around for years before giving up on finding anyone to fund it. Eventually he gave up and made a different film. And then he was arrested on charges of domestic violence, and a second victim filed a restraining order against him. Since then, he hasn't been welcome in Hollywood. The rumor is that he's returned to his old career, software engineering, where it's easier to find work.

edanm• 2 years ago

I wasn't aware a script existed! I've been waiting for years to see the movie, being a huge Primer fan, though I understand it probably won't get made.

johnasmith• 2 years ago

The English translation of the (Dutch) "strandbeest" is "beach animal".

jfengel• 2 years ago

English still uses the cognate "strand" to mean beach or riverside. The most famous is The Strand in London, along the Thames. It's a bit archaic sounding but is not too uncommon.

gjm11• 2 years ago

Likely familiar even if you haven't heard "strand" as such with that meaning: "stranded" (run aground on the beach).

One place where you might possibly have heard "strand" meaning the beach: Lewis Carroll. "The Walrus and the Carpenter were walking on the strand: / They wept like anything to see / Such quantities of sand. / 'If this were only cleared away,' / They said, 'it would be grand.'"

layer84• 2 years ago

More like “beach beast”. “Animal” is “dier”.

0823498723498723• 2 years ago

The way I (L1-english) have thought usage went is: "beestje" (as in "Huisje, Boompje, Beestje") is informal for animal, but "dier" (as in PvdD*) is formal.

So I guess I'd offer "beach critter"?

* https://www.partyfortheanimals.com/en/organizations/partij-v...

toolslive• 2 years ago

There have been efforts to use a similar concept to clear out mine fields.

shagie• 2 years ago

Similar in visual appearance, difference in design.

https://medium.com/kickstarter/the-explosion-artist-5db66a99...

Aside from these functional benefits, Mine Kafon has an undeniable aesthetic beauty. The tumbling dandelion-like structure recalls Dutch sculptor Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests, similarly fashioned from repurposed industrial materials and eerily imbued with life by the wind. Hassani’s work even caught the eye of MoMA’s Senior Curator of Design, Paola Antonelli, who included Mine Kafon in the museum’s 2014 Design and Violence show. More exhibitions around the world followed, and the project became something of a viral sensation, with the elegance of the idea — and Hassani’s inspiring story — propelling the pressing issue of landmines through social media and beyond.
Mine Kafon also garnered attention from the Dutch Ministry of Defense, which evaluated the design’s effectiveness in their test minefields, ultimately determining that the project was not practical for operational use but still valuable as a tool for raising awareness.

---

It has some issues with following topological contours and one not getting blown up isn't a "this area is clear" (or even a deterministic "this path through this area is clear"). One getting blown up means it found one mine (possible some more if its durable) ... and then you need to clean up the scrap, but this returns to the "you don't have a positive signal of this area is completely free from mines."

rafram• 2 years ago

There is (or was as of recently) a little exhibit on these at the Jewish Museum in NYC of all places. It’s an incredibly cool project.

mosselman• 2 years ago

I love the Strandbeesten. I've never seen them in real life, but I just love the philosophy and the videos.

We have a fossil of one of them that we purchased from the artist which is always a good conversation piece when we have guests.

phendrenad2• 2 years ago

I love simulation theory because it keeps me from going insane when I think of something randomly and it's on the front page of HN the next day (for the first time in 7 months).

Anyway these would be cool if they could actually move humans. Imagine crossing a vast desert with some friends on one of these bad boys.

Galaxeblaffer• 2 years ago

https://youtu.be/rqs9Awx5zgQ?si=Ojawx-oejvcRkopC, will probably not cross a dessert, but pretty cool.

jackcosgrove• 2 years ago

On the subject of coincidences, I went to order one of the Strandbeest mini sets from this very website last week.

Unfortunately their virtual store is closed for a couple weeks more. I was prepared to place an order and wait, but on the website checkout page there was a random person's name as if I was checking out someone else's order. It's probably an innocent mistake, like a hard coded default value or something.

I like to support artists directly, and it was a bit disappointing that there was so much friction with the buying process.

0823498723498723• 2 years ago

Did you not get the popup?

During the months of July and August you cannot place orders in our webshop. ... Theo Jansen and his team wish you a nice summer.

saaaaaam• 2 years ago

Art takes time.

GaryNumanVevo• 2 years ago

July and August are when he's out prototyping new animals, no time to run an online store.

Cthulhu_2• 2 years ago

I'm sure they could, but they'd need a different design to carry the extra load; at the moment it only carries its own lightweight construction.

That said, for personal transport in windy / flat conditions, a kart with a parachute kite works as well, you see those on the beach on occasion too.

joegibbs• 2 years ago

What if it's only after you see it that you think you thought of it the day before? If it's all in your head, there's no way of knowing that your mind didn't just make up the memory of thinking about something in the past, like deja vu.

tpurves• 2 years ago

Now I am imagining a mars rover that works like one of these. Stampeding over the rocky landscape, powered by martian wind.

layer84• 2 years ago

Given that Mars’ atmosphere density is only about one percent of Earth’s, that seems unlikely.

rtkwe3• 2 years ago

Lots of ways to deal with that in theory. You could have the windmill store the energy in a spring and release it in a more powerful burst when it reaches a certain level. Another way would just be gearing it waaay down so the windmill can spin with very little force and the strandbeest just moves very very slowly.

bastawhiz• 2 years ago

I remember watching videos about these maybe two decades ago on MSN TV (an early precursor to video streaming services)

Animats• 2 years ago

Oh, that guy is still at it and has made progress. There's pneumatic logic now and the new model can reverse direction.

arialdomartini• 2 years ago

Beautiful video with an update on the evolutionary development (up to 2021)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C97kMKwZ2-g

ElCapitanMarkla3• 2 years ago

I can remember first seeing these in Theo’s 2007 Ted Talk. I must have drawn than linkage about 10,000 times over the next few years. I always had big dreams of raiding dad’s plumbing supplies to make a version of one.

Tepix• 2 years ago

In the video there clearly is a line being pulled from the right. Was the wind insufficient that day? It seems like cheating.

qiqitori• 2 years ago

There's this guy I met at Maker Faire Tokyo last year who builds walking things (including Strandbeests) out of single-use chopsticks and a dollar-store lint remover for propulsion. If you're interested he has a YouTube channel, https://youtube.com/@miseclinic

Kon-Peki• 2 years ago

I remember seeing an exhibition of these many years ago that included demos [1]. It was outstanding (evidenced by the fact that I still remember). I wonder if he still does tours and exhibitions. If so, be sure to check them out.

[1] https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/strandbe...

vincvinc• 2 years ago

If you want to experience Strandbeest yourself, Theo will be giving demos on september 14 in Vlissingen, the Netherlands.

https://instagram.com/p/C_Fr24Zg2pl/

SamGyamfi• 2 years ago

I stumbled upon Theo's Instagram page a while ago and I was stunned at how cool his inventions are. I'd really underrated how well one could bridge engineering and art.

https://www.instagram.com/theojansen_official/

Strandbeest

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