Tuesday - Theo Jansen's marvellous beach walking machines

Theo Jansen is a Dutch artist who, in his own words, creates nothing less than "new forms of life".

Intelligent, self thinking machines made of PVC tubes, ropes and plastic bottles which once a year he lets loose on a Dutch beach.

Watch him here explaining his creations during a TED talk, it's pretty amazing:

http://www.ted.com/talks/theo_jansen_creates_new_creatures.html

They use the power of the wind to walk and are able, through a mechanism that's explained in the video, to detect the water and stop when they reach it. He even was able to develop a system to allow the machine to fix itself to the ground when it gets stormy.

It's A.I. made of rubbish and it's wonderful to watch.

You can visit his lab/studio in Ypenburg by following the (very sweet and low key) directions provided on his website:

http://www.strandbeest.com/events.php

The location of the next straandbeest walk will be announced on his website in January 2014.

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