51–60 of 114 posts
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The metal itself would damage the ground that is walked on though no?
Yes, but walking on rough terrain would still keep it a rough terrain.
How does keeping rough terrain rough help with that?
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More like “beach beast”. “Animal” is “dier”.
The way I (L1-english) have thought usage went is: "beestje" (as in "Huisje, Boompje, Beestje") is informal for animal, but "dier" (as in PvdD*) is formal. So I guess I'd offer "beach critter"? * https://www.partyfortheanimals.com/en/organizations/partij-v...
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It's partially euphemism, but there's also more substance to it than you may realize. The ratios in the Jansen linkages were originally developed through genetic algorithms in computer simulations. Jansen now builds multiple generations of machines at once and has them compete in various "survival" tasks on the beaches, prioritizing further development based on the success of each "mutation"; an ongoing human-assiste…
I don’t care either way about this conversation, just thought it was interesting, but what you described is essentially every engineered thing. A pocket watch has more complexity than what you are describing but isn’t any closer to “artificial life” then any other engineered thing that takes and stores external power.
For anyone who wants to know more: This is an application of Jansen's linkage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansen%27s_linkage There are other similar linkages but Jansen's is quite good. For anyone who doesn't have an idea why something like this matters or is inspiring beyond art, legged vehicles have many downsides but one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission…
How do you square this idea with the fact that my running shoes wear out? I'm a legged vehicle, and it's clear that the soles of my shoes wear down over time and the lost mass of the rubber went somewhere.
Whether legs or wheels, there are going to be contact patches that have to endure some quantity of sheering force when the vehicle is doing anything other than remaining stationary. It's this sheering force that grates the particulates away from tires, and I presume a legged vehicle would need a tire-like compound on the surfaces it uses to contact the road. So why would legs be different in this regard?
For anyone who wants to know more: This is an application of Jansen's linkage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansen%27s_linkage There are other similar linkages but Jansen's is quite good. For anyone who doesn't have an idea why something like this matters or is inspiring beyond art, legged vehicles have many downsides but one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission…
These matter because they are beautiful and make people happy. They’re also appreciable technical achievements.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The way I (L1-english) have thought usage went is: "beestje" (as in "Huisje, Boompje, Beestje") is informal for animal, but "dier" (as in PvdD*) is formal. So I guess I'd offer "beach critter"? * https://www.partyfortheanimals.com/en/organizations/partij-v...
“Beest” is a wild animal, or a savage being. It’s quite similar to English “beast”. “Beestje” is a diminutive that is affectionately applied to animals. “Dier” is neutral (not formal) “animal”.
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Wouldn't a legged vehicle still have that problem if it can achieve the same speeds and weights that regular cars go at? Scale up a human for example to the weight and speed of a car. Crazy powerful and big legs, big feet, big shoes. The rubber must hit the road either way and push down with a force to propel the weight of this car-heavy legged human at speeds of 100km/h. It would still wear rubber away just like tir…
> It would still wear rubber away just like tires do. It’s been a hot minute since I learnt rolling friction in high school physics but (iirc) a very interesting and unintuitive aspect of it is that there’s always an opposing/slowing force on a (rubber) wheel. Only a slippping wheel will not experience a slowdown. Static friction is different from rolling friction, and (I think ) can offer zero wear in ideal conditio…
For anyone who wants to know more: This is an application of Jansen's linkage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansen%27s_linkage There are other similar linkages but Jansen's is quite good. For anyone who doesn't have an idea why something like this matters or is inspiring beyond art, legged vehicles have many downsides but one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission…
That’s a dumb reason. A reason for reasons sake. These matter because they are beautiful and make people happy. They’re also appreciable technical achievements.
(Emphasis mine)
The OP acknowledges that these are beautiful, and then explains other reasons why this work may be interesting or important.
There's nothing dumb in that.
For anyone who wants to know more: This is an application of Jansen's linkage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansen%27s_linkage There are other similar linkages but Jansen's is quite good. For anyone who doesn't have an idea why something like this matters or is inspiring beyond art, legged vehicles have many downsides but one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission…
If you wanted to build a similar contraption that is powered by wind but moves on wheels, I imagine there is a much larger chance of it getting stuck.
I love simulation theory because it keeps me from going insane when I think of something randomly and it's on the front page of HN the next day (for the first time in 7 months). Anyway these would be cool if they could actually move humans. Imagine crossing a vast desert with some friends on one of these bad boys.
On the subject of coincidences, I went to order one of the Strandbeest mini sets from this very website last week. Unfortunately their virtual store is closed for a couple weeks more. I was prepared to place an order and wait, but on the website checkout page there was a random person's name as if I was checking out someone else's order. It's probably an innocent mistake, like a hard coded default value or something.…