Life evolves, but machines are invented. This dichotomy is largely consistent with what most of us have learned about biology and technology. But certain specimens roaming the world can blur those lines. And in the strange case of Strandbisten, they actually walk around. First assembled by a Dutch artist in 1990 Theo Jansenthe Strandbeest (meaning “beach beast” in Dutch) is a kind of wind-powered kinetic sculpture designed to “walk” along the seashore in an organic-looking way. Over the decades, Janssen made them not only larger and more elaborate, but also more stable and more resilient, with the idea that they would eventually outlive him.
Improving Strandbeest required a long process of trial and error. Explained in the Veritasium video above. Janssen’s process is particularly relevant to biological evolution in that changes made in his works tend to be retained or discarded depending on how well they aid adaptation to sandy or watery environments. Similar.
Getting them to walk upright on sand was extremely difficult and ultimately required computer modeling to determine the appropriate angles to connect the joints. However, the strandbeest’s harsh “life” requires both flexibility and durability, so the joints themselves are also in need of improvement.
We’ve featured Janssen and his Strandbisten several times before on Open Culture, but this new video explores another aspect of his lifelong project: keeping them out of the ocean. It becomes clear. This challenge led him to build a “brain” for the Strandbeest to detect when it came too close to water. Built of simple mechanical valves, these systems are not only connected to the neurons in our own heads, but are assembled in far greater numbers and technologically advanced to the digital devices we use every day. It reminds me of the collection of binary switches that were the basis of . day. Computers can theoretically survive forever, but living things cannot survive forever. The same goes for Strandbeest. But now that Janssen has discovered its “genetic code,” inventors around the world have already begun their own research to spread this diverse and fascinating species around the world.
Related content:
Meet the Strandbeest, a mechanical animal that roams the Dutch coast.
