These are amazing ! I already have a use for the limited space door at home, and I want to build the Archimedian Drive just because it is beautiful. This also says something to me about the value of human determination - a retired professor in Vietnam must be old enough to have been an adult during the American involvement in their wars, and crushing poverty their state was left in, still a professorship and a desire…
I really don't want this comment to go somewhere weird, but... I think the experience of war sharpens the desire to see the world made a better place. Most people come out of the darkness of war and see the value of life, and this often permeates their attitude in how they want to leave the world. I think war brings out the altruism in people.
But anyway, how about that rack and pinion animation! Finally I get why it's so effective at safely pulling an old steam train up a steep slope. I honestly was foggy on how the continuous engine motion translated into alternating cycles of locking and linear motion. So simple though.