The Strandbeest

Kinetic sculpture. What an interesting idea. Sculptures that move of their own accord. If you click on the title of this post, you'll be directed to a page that has video links to some demos of this artist's works, as well as to his own web site, etc.

Directory:Theo Jansen:StrandBeest Kinetic Sculptor

From PESWiki

For the past fifteen years, Theo Jansen has been creating/evolving "beach animals", immense multi-legged walking critters designed to roam the Dutch coastline, feeding on gusts of wind. They are made from commonly available tools like plastic tubing, cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, hose, tape, and all sorts of other stuff.

Over the years, successive generations of his creatures have evolved into increasingly complex animals that walk by flapping wings in response to the wind, discerning obstacles in their path through feelers and even hammering themselves into the sand on sensing an approaching storm.

His animals have legs, muscles (pneumatic pistons within the plastic tubing), stomachs (plastic bottles for storing air), and nerves (collections of on/off values that work pretty much like logic gates). [1] (http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2005/01/66356)

Eventualy he wants to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives