check out these wind powered "beasts" made out of pvc..

[novaderrik]

this guy might be a little out there, but his creations are pretty cool..

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=HSKyHmjyrkA&feature=email

i for one welcome our new wind powered pvc skeleton overlords..

[novaderrik]

here is a lecture he did where he kid of explains how they work..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b694exl_oZo

some toy company could make a lot of money selling toys based on these ideas..

[ravens_cry]

I agree, his weirdness of calling them 'animals' and 'alive' is a bit disconcerting, they don't reproduce or self repair so I can not consider them alive, but as wind-powered walkers, they are very impressive. Their organic motion is just inspiring.

[Solfe]

Those look like something out of Time Bandits or Monty Python. Cool but slightly creepy.

[lomiller1]

I saw these a few years ago. Last year I saw a piece on some university students who had built walking robots based on the same principles. It was pretty cool, they had one of them standing on this relatively small robot and carry him down the hall.

[jj_0001]

Way, way cool.

[Trebuchet]

As a mechanical engineer, I think they're extremely cool. However, I find the idea of leaving all that plastic on the beach rather disturbing. Perhaps he needs to move on to biodegradable monsters, made of bamboo, wood, maybe cotton fabric for the sails.

[HenrikOlsen]

Sun, air, water. Even PVC won't last that long in that environment.

[TJMac]

IMO, the guy loses some credibility by implying that they are alive and evolving, as if on their own. (Look at the little ones, they are so much quicker and stronger than their parents that we left on the beach last fall!) He didn't say THAT obviously, but it sort of goes that way.

Otherwise, I think its a cool thing that I would love to see up close.

TJ