# Strandbeests **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 5, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260 "2011-02-05T05:10:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/1 "2011-02-05T05:10:35Z")
I’ve got a broad mud flat when the tide goes out, and occasional breezes. If only I had the time… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HSKyHmjyrkA/hqdefault.jpg "Theo Jansen's Strandbeests - Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention Episode 1 Preview - BBC One") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSKyHmjyrkA) ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/2 "2011-02-05T07:06:21Z")
Very cool! Watching them “walk” was amazing. Great link. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/3 "2011-02-05T20:24:35Z")
Awesome! Thanks for sharing! ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/4 "2011-02-05T20:48:36Z")
Oooo! Neat! Thank you for that. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/5 "2011-02-05T21:15:25Z")
I’d love to see the blueprints. ---
**Author:** ![kaiwik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaiwik/32/3978_2.png) [@kaiwik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaiwik)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/6 "2011-02-05T21:50:52Z")
Way cool! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/7 "2011-02-06T10:03:39Z")
I think these are fantastic pieces of engineering, but are we being deceived, just a little, about them being entirely wind-powered? Some of them seem to be moving without any sails. Of course it could be just the sail area of the structures themselves, but I dunno - it feels like we’re being shown how something would be, if it worked, rather than something that definitely does. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/8 "2011-02-06T13:43:02Z")
Supposedly some of them store compressed air in soda bottles for when there’s a lag in the wind, but I’m very skeptical of that. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/9 "2011-02-06T14:46:07Z")
This is why I’d like to see the drawings. I wouldn’t make one, but I might make a model of part of one just to test it. On the presumption that they are what they are presented to be, they’re fascinating machines. If they’re not, then they’re still fascinating machines. One thing I didn’t ‘get’ was the ‘propeller’. It doesn’t appear to be functional, though the narrator implied it is. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/10 "2011-02-06T16:04:05Z")
Well, they did explain/show how the the creator had to get the pre-sail ones started with a lengthy push. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/11 "2011-02-06T16:36:10Z")
I think the propeller was more of an energy storage device, like the propeller in rubber band airplanes. The wind winds the rubber band up to store energy, then when the wind stops, it unwinds and moves the legs back to where it was. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/12 "2015-10-25T19:57:51Z")
Bumping an old thread. I just got back from an exhibition of Strandbeests at the Peabody Essex Museum. They have some you can push, some static, models of different parts of the mechanism, and one that runs on compressed air stored in soda bottles. It’s totally awesome and Boston dopers should go check it out. However, the PEM is in Salem, so wait a week. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/13 "2015-10-26T04:16:30Z")
That is cool. I’d love to be able to make something like that. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/14 "2015-10-26T05:46:59Z")
Do you know if they’re going to exhibit elsewhere in the country? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/15 "2015-10-26T07:30:38Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > That is cool. I’d love to be able to make something like that. It’s not the same, obviously, but you can buy kits to make functioning desktop versions of them. I have one like [this](http://g02.a.alicdn.com/kf/UT8j7uzXjBbXXagOFbXh/117008230/UT8j7uzXjBbXXagOFbXh.jpg)and it’s surprisingly good. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/16 "2015-10-26T10:15:30Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > That is cool. I’d love to be able to make something like that. The materials are surprisingly low tech; mostly PVC pipe and rubber tubing, held together with zip ties. And I think the design specs for the basic leg assembly may be published somewhere, so the barriers to trying it yourself are a lot lower than with a lot of other things. The exhibit included some small models that were made by other people; one made of Legos, one powered by a hamster ball. > [@davidm](#): > > Do you know if they’re going to exhibit elsewhere in the country? I don’t but you could contact the PEM and ask. I think I heard somewhere that this is the first time they’ve been shown outside Europe, so if they are going to other cities you haven’t missed them. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strandbeests/570260/17 "2015-10-27T12:35:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It’s not the same, obviously, but you can buy kits to make functioning desktop versions of them. I have one like [this](http://g02.a.alicdn.com/kf/UT8j7uzXjBbXXagOFbXh/117008230/UT8j7uzXjBbXXagOFbXh.jpg)and it’s surprisingly good. I just ordered one like yours as a christmas present a couple of days ago! And the Taschen book may seem quite pricey but is pretty big and full of close-ups, including of individual parts, and loads of shots of the machines in action, with several fold-out pages. There’s also a fair mount of text, although it’s given in English, French and German.