This article was taken from the November 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Dutch artist Theo Jansen made his name creating intricate and elegantly haunting nine-metre-long plastic creatures that walk on their own, powered by the wind. Now his contraptions are spawning home versions. Working with Japanese publisher Gakken, Jansen is offering a Mini Strandbeest kit based on one of his full-scale designs. The 20cm-long model, (€39.50) is as complex as its forebear, with 120 parts that snap together to form 12 jointed legs, a spinelike crankshaft and a turbine. Wired's took 90 minutes to assemble and it walked across most flat surfaces, even managing slight inclines. The ingenious movement is hypnotic but, unlike some of the full-size beasts, which use pumps and bottles to store energy, the Mini stops as soon as the wind does.
Check out a short video of the full-size Strandbeest walking in the wind, below.
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
