The Strandbeest
A fusion of art and engineering
Since 1990, Dutch artist Theo Jansen has been creating
strandbeesten (Dutch for "beach animals", singular
strandbeest), which are moving kinetic structures, sometimes
wind-propelled, that resemble walking animals, described by Jansen as
artificial life. All of his models are based on a system of triangles
and connecting links which convert the rotation of an axle into a
stepping motion of six or more legs. This allows the strandbeesten to
travel over sand much more efficiently than if traveling on wheels. What
was at first a rudimentary "breed" has evolved slowly, with the help of
evolutionary computation techniques, into a generation of kinetic
sculptures that to some degree can react to their environment.
Find out more