Amazing Sisyphus LEGO kinetic sculpture

Check out this amazing LEGO sculpture posted on YouTube by JK Brickworks. The kinetic sculpture depicts the myth of Sisyphus, as he pushes the boulder endlessly. The motions are very well done and the attention to detail is truly impressive. We also get a nice long look at the insides and a description of the key components that make it work.

A tip of hat to Dave Johnson and his sculpture titled Sisyphus Testing Shoes may be in order. The two sculptures seem very similar. Of course, I don't know the full story; could this be a case of independent invention? At any rate, it's a brilliant example of artistry and ingenuity.

[ Thanks Martin! ]

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Theo Jansen and his incredible walking beach creatures featured on CBS 'This Morning'

Who can get enough of graceful mechanical creatures created by Dutch artist, Theo Jansen? His 'Strandbeests' are wind powered walking creatures part art, part engineering, and certainly inspired by nature.

If you find these creations as fascinating as I do, you may want to study one (a small one) up close and personal. The good news is, you can. The Japanese company Gakken offers a number of working models of Jansens's kinetic creatures.

[ Thanks John! ]

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Charming little rotund wooden elephant ramp walker toy

We've seen quite a few wooden ramp walkers, most from the talented and generous Roberto Lou Ma. To change things up a bit, here's one made in Germany. Like other ramp walkers, this one just needs to be placed at the top of a slight incline and given a little push to put it in motion. I love the use of its trunk! The company that sells this little elephant also offers a ramp walking person, hedgehog, and rabbit.

Here is where you can get this wooden elephant ramp walker toy.

[ Thanks Joe! ]

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Robotic pack animal can carry a 400 pound load and follow a human through the woods

The folks at Boston Dynamics are still working on semi-autonomous walking robots. You may recall my post about their BigDog robot back in 2008. The pack-robot shown here is known as the "LS3". The idea was to create a semi-autonomous legged robot to carry heavy loads -- gear for soldiers in this case. This robot is able to carry 400 lbs of a equipment, follow a human through some pretty rugged terrain, and accept voice commands. The most remarkable section comes at the end of the video when the robot takes a fall down a steep bank. It rolls over and eventually stands back up!

You can read more in this article from The Daily Mail published a few days ago.

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Walking cardboard animal sculpture kits seeking Kickstarter support!

Kinetic Creatures are walking cardboard animal sculptures which use the clever mechanical linkage, popularized in Theo Jansen's Strandbeest. By turning the wire handle the creatures come alive with a simple mechanical motion.

They also offer gear kits which allows the animals to be powered by a small electric motor and laser-cut wooden gears.

The Creatures -- Elly the elephant (above), Rory the rhino, and Geno the giraffe -- are made up of cardboard pieces that you assemble using tabs-and-slot construction.

The creators have been seeking support on Kickstarter in order to cast the patterns onto die-cut-tools at a local cardboard manufacturing facility. Using a die-press, the time-per-kit will come way down. That means they will be able to share the Kinetic Creatures with hundreds or thousands of makers!

They have already reached their Kickstarter goal, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't pledge in order to get one of these creatures for your own! Here is the link to the Kinetic Creatures Kickstarter page.

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Anitique clockwork-driven polar bear automaton

Check out this clockwork polar bear automaton, probably European made and dating to the turn of the century. This automaton is currently available on ebay.

From the eBay description:

When wound, this Polar Bear walks along on all four paws, opening and closing his mouth to flash his teeth, then suddenly stop and rear up on his hind legs again opening and closing his mouth to scare us with his teeth, then he’ll drop down on all fours and walk forward starting the cycle over again!

Here is a link to this Anitque clockwork polar bear automaton.

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Autoperipatetikos - Clockwork driven walking doll

Here is a delightful video of the inner workings of a spring-driven walking doll courtesy of the good folks at The House of Automata.

The Autoperipatetikos (meaning "walking-about-by-itself" in Greek) was invented by Enoch Rice Morrison and patented in 1862. Though it certainly wasn't the first mechanical walking figure, it was among the first American toys to be sold in Europe. To that point, most mechanical originated from Europe.

You can read more about the Autoperipatetikos in Mary Hillier's book Automata & mechanical toys: An illustrated history.

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Mechanical Woman Walking by Mark Galt

Check out the beautiful construction and wonderful motion of this walking figure by Mark Galt.

A short bio from the Maker Faire web site:

Mark Galt is a kinetic sculptor who makes mechanical and musical automata in brass, copper, stainless steel, and wood. Forever amused and fascinated by the human figure in motion, most of his work consists of clockwork depictions or exaggerations of the human body or body parts in the acts of dancing, walking, singing, speaking, and otherwise moving about.

See more kinetic art by Mark Galt on his flikr stream.

[ Thanks Aaron! ]

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Giant human automaton from 1900...or is it?

Here's an interesting link to a newspaper article from the New York Herald, Sept. 9th, 1900 about a large human automaton. Or...at least what is being presented as one!

Invented by Louis Philip Perew of Tonawand, New York, the automaton in the article is reported to be 7 feet 5 inches tall and capable of walking, running, moving its eyes, avoiding obstacles, and talking.

For a very complete picture of just what was really going on, I suggest you to click on over to this great article at Cyberneticzoo.com about Perew's Electric Man.

As the 1910 patent drawings show, the 'automaton' was actually pushed by the engine-powered carriage behind it. A hidden shaft supplied the power for the figure's walking-motion mechanism.

Cleverly concealed controls within the carriage allowed the passenger to direct the figure and its various motions. While it may not have been exactly what was reported in 1900 the newspaper article, Perew's mechanical man was still a work of considerable genius -- both for the engineering and the showmanship.

Designed to be a advertising device, the mechanical man had some measure of success. It was copied later on in the form of a similar carriage-pulling figure known as 'Big Chris'. The large version also eventually inspired Perew to apply for a patent for a toy version, which was granted in 1927. In the toy version, the carriage is located in front and pulls the figure along.

[ Thanks Don! ]

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