Awesome Strandbeest

Too lazy to get up and grab that beer? How about some furniture that can bring it to you? Game developer and maker Giliam de Carpentier created a coffee table that can walk around his living room, carrying drinks and snacks to whoever summons it. His 12-legged Carpentopod takes inspiration from Theo Jansen’s amazing Strandbeest walking sculptures.

Taking inspiration from Theo Jansen’s legendary strandbeests, artists Aat Dirks and Ad Lakerveld created their own walking vehicle. Their Pedalbeest isn’t driven by the wind or motors; it runs entirely on pedal power. Replacing legs with wheels means it’s not exactly an efficient mode of transportation, and it requires its rider to pedal backward to go forward.

In 2011, Vagabond Works created a skateboard like no other. The Land Crawler eXXtreme is a robotic skateboard that walks using a mechanism based on Theo Janssen’s Strandbeests. It uses two motors and 24 legs to scurry along and has a load capacity of 300 kg or about 661 lb. We imagine its battery doesn’t last long.

Since 1990, artist Theo Jansen has created numerous walking and moving machines. Each year, he heads to the beach with a new one of his Strandbeests and lets it able about along the, powered solely by the wind. This video compilation shows off some of the many amazing and amusing creatures as they march across the beach.

The guys from Russian car-hacking channel Garage 54 are back with another crazy build. This time, they took a page from Theo Janssen’s Strandbeests and attempted to give their hunk of junk Lada legs in place of its rear tires. Though its slow amble is more of a crawl than a walk.

Kinetic sculptor and Strandbeest inventor Theo Jansen shows off one of his coolest builds, a wind-powered walking machine that pulls an undulating caterpillar-like body behind it. The name means “Mule” but we don’t quite see the resemblance.

While it’s not exactly the most practical of conveyances, we’re still impressed with the engineering behind CARV’s walking bicycle, inspired by Theo Jansen’s amazing Strandbeest kinetic sculptures. We like to call it the Strandcycle. Build details here.