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Science Technology

Wind Powered Walking Machines 75

Posted by michael from the strandbeest dept.
MyDixieWrecked writes "PopularScience has an interesting article about some wind powered machines. The creator is working on a new design that will be able to store the power from the wind to keep up momentum even after the wind stops." The creator's website has some more pictures and video.
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Wind Powered Walking Machines More

Wind Powered Walking Machines

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  • a little off (Score:3, Interesting)

    by katalyst ( 618126 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:24AM (#4832014) Homepage
    the title of the submission suggested machines, but hey, these are works of art, evolving moving sculptures. Look bizzare, will fit very will into a sci fi movie (kinda made me think of the new Time Machine movie).
    I still don't understand though as to how he plans to keep them moving after the wind dies down. These must be high effeciency machines to be actually able to move on "legs". I wonder, if they can take any load, or maybe even a person (yah, it may be kinda boring to wait for a strong gust of wind - gives a new perspective of being in the doldrums).
  • Somehow I had to think of upper management :-)

  • Beautiful (Score:2, Insightful)

    by kliment ( 627259 )
    I kinda like these. Geek art at its best

  • Wow... (Score:2, Funny)

    by The J Kid ( 266953 )
    Gives a whole new meaning to 'being blown off you feet' !

  • Mars probe? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:27AM (#4832024)

    Could we use something like these to send to Mars, assemble themselves (or have small robots do that) and then keep them walking and taking pictures (and steering away from chasms)?

    Some of the images looked like 3D renderings. So, wonder what the feasibility of all this is...

    • Re:Mars probe? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Bowie J. Poag ( 16898 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:56AM (#4832074) Homepage
      The wind on Mars isn't like the wind on Earth.. Since the atmosphere is so thin on Mars, you would have to have friggin enormous sized windstorms to even begin to power such a thing as this.
      • The wind on Mars isn't like the wind on Earth.. Since the atmosphere is so thin on Mars, you would have to have friggin enormous sized windstorms to even begin to power such a thing as this.

        I guess it's a good thing that the windstorms on Mars cover entire hemispheres and last for weeks then, huh?

        It's a joke. Laugh.
    • Great idea.

      I wouldn't be surprised if our Dutchman doesn't get a call from NASA or affiliates... with the addition of a small power supply, think solar, these things or their descendants could do a very good job of exporing Mars.

      You could fit a hundred folded up versions of these into the space required for one rover. All of them together would still probably weigh less than a rover if made out of carbon fibre/nano-tubules.

  • new? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by tanveer1979 ( 530624 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:27AM (#4832025) Homepage Journal
    The concept of storing wind energy for future use has been there for long. It was the practicality that eluded. And this contraption also dosent look so practical.

    IMHO, the best way to use such a device is to use it to generate electricty... instead of walking. The coastel areas and deserts have an amazing amount of wind energy. If only the rulers wake up and spend money on these non-conventional sources rather than bigger bombs.

    • Well creating energy is a wonderful goal but really these types of mechanics aren't well suited to converting wind energy into electrical energy...too much will be lost in the conversion to be of any use, whereas converting to the demonstrated kinetic energy is still viable, though certainly not for moving any amount of extra mass. Remember that these machines are only moving themselves, no payload.

      If Theo can get efficient storage in place then this may change. Still it would require a whole lot of stored energy to do more than they are currently or to have any left over for the rest of us.
      • Energy cannot be created or destroyted, only moved around.

        Creation of energy is not a goal; the efficient transfer of energy is what we strive for.

        Conversion to electrical energy is less efficient than, say, directly to kinetic,yes, but we are relatively good at storing and using electrical energy, and relatively poor at using kinetic energy.

        • Sorry i was using the 'vernacular'.

          I was just saying that for example, we humans convert and transfer a lot of energy every day but you don't see us getting kick back checks from the power grid for contributions. On the other hand windmills are very direct and effective at converting and transferring wind power to the power grid. These machines Theo has put together are more like humans than windmills. They are designed for kinetic energy... which is why they are so unique.

          • Totally.

            As for conversion and trasnfer.. we don't get checks from the power grid because we don't directly contribute, mostly.

            There are of course the ultra cool guerilla contributors... the lucky ones living in places where the power meter will actually run backwards if more power is gneerated in the home.

            More often than not, though, the guerilla power generator doesn't generate much of a surplus, but it does generate most of the power needed for a home, so the amount of grid power used is only a trickle. So effectively, these people do get a check back.
  • so not only will I have to look out making sure I don't stand on jelly fish at the beach I will have to make sure I don't stand on this stuff as well, could get a nasty splinter.

  • Worth looking at (Score:4, Interesting)

    by panurge ( 573432 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:32AM (#4832035)
    The videos are terrible quality but the image of the thing walking with the wings rippling is undeniably impressive - much more so than any CGI I've seen. And the things themselves have a genuine imaginative quality. They seem to have been influenced by science fiction comics, but they actually work as real structures. That is seriously clever stuff.

  • like clockwork.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by foniksonik ( 573572 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:33AM (#4832036) Homepage Journal
    Much like the sands of the hourglass... blah blah... seriously though, very cool work, just wish the flash control jscript worked on my mac... can't get beyond the funky video of the crank...

    I can see how he plans to store the windpower in the pistons though, springy.

    I like the pictures of the beetles the best... love how he's using ground effects to generate leg movin' vibrations. Makes ya think about bumblebee turbulence, etc. a little.

    So air flows over the tops of these slinkies and creates downward momentum that's converted into forward momentum via lovely sets of lever mechanisms... again, very clockwork. Very cool.

    Gotta love simply principles of physics applied creatively to mechanics.

    Crazy Dutchman!!!!
    • Just to summarize, it looks like he's using windpower instead and/or in addition to gravity(ie: pendulum) to power what are essentially spring and lever actuations, resulting in forward movement. Quite complex relationships to be sure. The fact that he's getting them to do anything is impressive, though less so knowing that he's used extensive computer modeling as a crutch. viva la renaissance!
    • Crazy Dutchman!!!!

      You summoned me?

    • Dutch (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I hope more countries would allow their citizens to smoke pot (they're allowed to drink and smoke anyway) like the Dutch. We would have more outlandish ideas and more wonderful realizations of the most implementable outlandish ideas (such as this one).

  • Tumbleweeds? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by twoslice ( 457793 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:43AM (#4832048)
    He took a lesson from Mother Nature. Is it just me? or do those look like big tumbleweeds? 'Cause I've seen tumble weeds roll along quite nicely even after the wind stopped.

    One time my girlfriend reeeaally freaked when she saw a tumbleweed rolling right towards us while she was driving. She never saw one before and thought it was going to total the car! Scared the dickens out of me too 'cause I thought she was going to drive us into the ditch just to avoid the thing.

  • Stick evolution (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Zauss ( 623242 )

    That first video on his site reminds me of a couple programs I've seen that do this sort of stick evolution. IIRC, the programs also have a distributed computing type function where they exchange what they evolve with other clients. If anyone's interested:

    Framsticks [poznan.pl]

    Golem Project [brandeis.edu]

    They're fun programs to try out. Framsticks is still under active development but the Golem Project is no more. Although I believe you can still download the last Golem client from their website.

    Both sites should contain relevant articles/research on stick evolution for anybody who wants to learn more.

  • 23MB QuickTime Movie of one of them.... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Bowie J. Poag ( 16898 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:53AM (#4832068) Homepage

    Enjoy.

    Animaris Sabulosa [wins.uva.nl]

    Cheers,

  • AT-AT machine? (Score:5, Funny)

    by schtum ( 166052 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @09:08AM (#4832090)
    Now if he could just add a cockpit and a steering mechanism to this thing, it would be pretty bad ass. Oh, and some laser cannons.
  • ... but it's gone with the wind.

    *duck*
  • Machines are works of art. :)

    Seriously folks, these could be useful; self-threshing grain for instance, or self-planting seeds? Just drag out wind powered self guiding farm tools some day.

    They don't need to be made of bamboo. They can be made of light metal and have computers in them.

    Wind power is about lots mpre than windmills.

  • Strandbeest (Score:2, Informative)

    by kop ( 122772 )
    More work and video by theo janssen

    http://www.strandbeest.com/

    Strandbeest means "beach animal"

  • Imagine... (Score:3, Funny)

    by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @09:18AM (#4832115) Journal
    Imagine one of these contraptions lumbering towards you when you're getting a tan on the beach! Even better, imagine a cluster of... nah.
  • Here we have a mad scientist, preparing to unleash monstors on the world.
    Sure it looks cute, these wind powered dinosaurs wandering round, but delve into his web site and you find this gem in his description of the laboratory....

    A screen will be placed so that the traffic of highway A13 will not be destructed.....

    Until he unleashes his monstors, Whah Hah Hah

  • Looks familiar (Score:4, Informative)

    by saldek ( 139594 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @09:36AM (#4832161) Journal
    These critters look quite a lot like the Sodaplay [sodaplay.com] constructions.

    Ahh...the memories. I must've wasted hours of time experimenting with these at work.

  • 'What giants?' asked Sancho Panza. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Speare ( 84249 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @10:54AM (#4832371) Homepage Journal

    'What giants?' asked Sancho Panza.

    'Those you see there,' replied his master, 'with their long arms. Some giants have them about six miles long.'

    'Take care, your worship,' said Sancho; 'those things over there are not giants but windmills, and what seem to be their arms are the sails, which are whirled round in the wind and make the millstone turn.'

    'It is quite clear,' replied Don Quixote, 'that you are not experience in this matter of adventures. They are giants, and if you are afraid, go away and say your prayers, whilst I advance and engage them in fierce and unequal battle.'

    --Don Quixote, Part I, Chapter 8

  • What happens (Score:2, Funny)

    by The Kow ( 184414 )
    when they get blown over in heavy winds?
  • ...When instead of reading Wind powered walking machines you read Wind powered washing machines.

    Damn, i need to cut back on that black cofee.
  • No wait, sorry, I was thinking of Wind Powered TALKING Machines -- Politicians.
  • sodaplay.com [sodaplay.com] is a cool site where you can build 3d objects that move.
  • discovered when somebody tried to fly a kite while on stilts :-)

    I saw this dumb "Stupid People Tricks" show where this one guy snow-skied on top of a ladder. The bottom of the ladder had skies, and he was on top steps of the ladder. He actually did pretty well considering. Went about 30 feet or so before falling. I bet he had a sore bum in the morning, though.

    I wonder what the hell was going through the person's mind who came up with ladder-skiing. I suspect that his wife made him paint the ceiling but he wanted to go skiing. So while painting he got bored and started thinking of ways to do both.

    The bored mind is the workshop of the Lord of Stupidity.
  • Awesome! Engineering meets poetry in motion! Check out the videos -- a bit blurry, but incredible!
  • The machine that breaks wind
  • I wonder if anything like this was looked at for low cost Mars explorers.... Drop a few at random places and just let them explore...

    Tho maybe that wouldn't be of any benefit anymore...

  • New definition for "Tilting at windmills". Best laugh I've had for months.

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