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Strandbeest

strandbeest.com

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Re: Strandbeest

#91

Post by cenamus »

burkaman wrote: post #66
jpk wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> legged vehicles have many downsides but one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission associated with tires and wheeled vehicles if you can make legged vehicles as good as wheeled ones. 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…

You could wear wooden clogs or something. It would be uncomfortable but if you were a robot you wouldn't care. They would still wear out, but sawdust is less permanent than microplastics.

most wooden clogs come with rubber soles nowadays to make them bearable to wear for more than an hour

Re: Strandbeest

#92

Post by rajnathani »

throwaway920102 wrote: post #11

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…

There are tire particulate matter capture devices out there, in research at least [0]. This solution plus having a heavy vehicle weight-dependent tax could help (i.e. encouraging more 2 (or 3) wheeler transportation regardless of whether motorized or not).

[0] https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/195595/worlds-first-device-c...

Re: Strandbeest

#93

Post by lucianbr »

necovek wrote: post #79
lucianbr wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> one big upside is that you can theoretically avoid the rubber/microplastic particulate emission associated with tires and wheeled vehicles if you can make legged vehicles as good as wheeled ones. How does keeping rough terrain rough help with that?

My implication is that you want rubber for nice asphalt/road surface to avoid damaging it — for comfort, other suspension components can help out instead. If you don't care about preserving the terrain (which you can when it's rough to begin with), you can just go with large surface metal feet and you should not get any rubber/microplastics, though you will get metallic dust.

Wht do you think mountain bikes have rubber tires? Or one of these? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-terrain_vehicle Or a dune buggy?

Pretty clearly the worry about the road surface is not the only cause of using tires.

Also, if you don't care for either preserving the surface or comfort (use something else for comfort) then... use metal wheels. Or ceramic wheels, or tracks or something.

Re: Strandbeest

#94

Post by brnt »

cenamus wrote: post #91
burkaman wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could wear wooden clogs or something. It would be uncomfortable but if you were a robot you wouldn't care. They would still wear out, but sawdust is less permanent than microplastics.

most wooden clogs come with rubber soles nowadays to make them bearable to wear for more than an hour

Or, we should stop paving road surfaces so wooden clogs work again as intended without being painful after a while.

Re: Strandbeest

#95

Post by gitaarik »

mhb wrote: post #5

OK I'll be the one. Not sure why these get so much love. Sure they're cool-looking untethered kites but all the nonsense about "creating new forms of life" - really?

The artist's idea is that these machines can ultimately roam the beach independently without the need of human interaction. They also don't need fuel since they only move from the wind they catch. At the same time it looks like some kind of weird huge animal (strandbeest translates to beach beast). And it's an art project so yeah I get why he calls it like that.

Re: Strandbeest

#96

Post by Loughla »

necovek wrote: post #89
Loughla wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the main issue is the rubber and chemicals from the nice road surfaces. So your argument seems like a problem looking for a solution?

That's wrong: the problem is the rubber on the wheel (or feet in case of legs) being spent due to the traction and emission of rubber microparticles as it is.

Yes sorry I wasn't clear enough. Rubber and chemicals from tires on the nice road surfaces. That's what that should have said.

But the legs are still a solution in search of a problem.

Re: Strandbeest

#98

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

throwaway920102 wrote: post #11

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…

There's a question of course about why we're not using legged machines but I think you're way over-thinking this. Strandbeests are just a cool and beautiful art project and there is no more justification that they need than that. Art has a utility all of its own without having to inspire engineering works.

Besides which strandbeests are made of plastic tubing which kiind of weakens your argument about environmental friendliness.

Re: Strandbeest

#99

Post by dcuthbertson »

throwaway920102 wrote: post #11

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 your goal is to replace rubber tires, then how about going whole hog and turn the entire road system into a railway system? Tires made of steel, parallel tracks, lots of switching, perhaps regional control systems to guide computerized vehicles along the fastest route keeping safe distances between cars, and cars that automatically link and unlink to create dynamic trains along shared routes. I think that would be a very cool system (although outrageously expensive to realize).
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