Paper Strandbeest Mk 2

I made the Paper Strandbeest a while ago(It was my first instructable) And I finally updated it with a real working version! The old one had only 2 leg segments(4 legs total) and it could not walk well. The new one now has 3 leg segments(6 total) and can walk well. The old version is now going to be outdated to this version, but I will keep it up for people who linked to it, it being my first instructable, etc

Anyways, to the instructable! 

Step 1: Supplies Needed

You need:

• Scissors
• Printer
• Pliers
• Wire Cutters
• Tack or Pin
• At least 4 big paperclips
• Thick Paper(The paper used in my other instructables)

Comments

[Hume]

This is lovely and amazing. I actually have Jansen's little kit for the mini Strandbeest -- absolutely fascinating.

I was thinking of trying to make a "domesticated" version of one of his beasts, that could be ridden like a bicycle. I got the idea when I watched his TED talk, and he spoke about the legs on these as being a new version of the wheel, and I thought, wouldn't it be something to have a bike with legs instead of wheels? Can you imagine? Incredible. No idea if it would work, or even if I could make it at all...

Again, really cool instructable.

[Ganhaar]

Have been thinking the same. I thought I would have found a theo jansen project on the web but the closest I came up with was a low walking platform more like a skateboard or scooter put together by some college students. There are also a couple of walking cars that are very slow and noisy. I guess it goes to highlight the skill and artistic ability demonstrated by Theo in developing such elegant strandbeasts.
Never the less, this doesn't mean a walking bike can't be done, so lets get prototyping to make one first.

[dombeef]

I have also seen those a bit after I made this. A walking bike is possible, as long as you dont mind it being wide enough that you can't ride it like a regular bike. What I made here can't walk by itself, it is extremely unstable and doesn't even have any motors to move it. If someone were to try to make a bike shaped strandbeest it would be very hard to ride, it would be fairly slow and hard to balance being that it would be thin. The material would also have to be strong enough,given how thin the legs would be. There also has to be 3 legs(I think?) to have at least 1 point on the ground at any moment , and it would need around 2 to 4 legs to be stable if I thought it out correctly.

I have been extremely busy with school since August, but I have had a few designs that I sketched that would theoretically make this design stable enough with paper and paperclips, it could even walk with a motor attached. But it would still have to be wide, so that skateboard strandbeest you saw is probably your best hope for a portable walking device. You are better off making a segway skateboard, I actually was working on one in march last year, but I took it apart after I almost got it working.

[Ganhaar]

If you cut the legs out of 10mm thick ali plate and use 1mm thick nylon washers at the joints, 9 layers of material is only 100mm or 4" thick which is reasonable bike width. Can profile cut the parts easily to test. The legs would buckle sideways if they were too long and it won't be light, but would be a reasonable way to test the concept.

The idea wasn't necessarily meant to be practical or that function, but more just to make a walking bike because no-one has one. Segways are pretty rare around my parts, but they're still widely known.

[dombeef]

Hmm, I didn't think of that, but it would possibly work. It would seem stable, but the joining of the parts for a single leg would be difficult, so the joints would be slightly weak if it were to keep the 1 cm margin. Lets also put into account that it would be pedal powered, because a motor for this would die fairly quickly and not follow what Theo Jansen wanted to do, since he made the big ones originally to walk using the wind. If it were pedal powered then the person would have to be high up, because you can't have anything blocking the legs.

Also I looked up for a strandbeest bike, and this is all I could find: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYdtWHvTdm4&feature=player_embedded  I am guessing this isn't what you are looking for?

And I also dont know or see anyone use Segways anywhere in my city, then again I dont see people use strandbeest skateboards here too!

Thanks for commenting, I almost forgot about this project, I finally have some free time and I am starting to draw out plans for a new version that should actually work, it will be based on Theo Jansen's Animaris Rhinoceros beest.

[dombeef]

Thanks!
I actually thought about the idea of it as a bicycle, but it would end up being as wide as a car, it would need at least 4 legs per axle to be kinda stable.

[Ganhaar]

but a bike isn't stable. How many legs do you need to get smooth vertical motion? With 4 legs per axel wouldn't it then be very difficult to turn?

[obsidianjaguar]

This is amazing and very cool !
One thing that ( IMO) would make it epicly awesome would be if you added a windmill so that this baby could walk in the wind like its big brothers

[fail]

Pure genius! Quite amazing really...
My science class is trying to build a big one like Jansens out of PVC pipe, and its very hard!
Yours looks great though...

[Kikketer]

This thing looks really cool, I was thinking of using popsicle sticks. It may be a bit tricky to make the triangles, but it may provide the nice sturdy supports and be just as cheap to make!

[hintss]

would cereal box work? its what I normally use for these things...

[dombeef]

It might, though you would have to doublle layer it

[hintss]

how thick is this material you're using?!

[dombeef]

Whoops, kinda late

But it is about half a milimeter, if that helps

[dombeef]

I don't have it with me but if you reply in 30 minutes I will reply with th answer

[yardleydobon]

"Thick Paper(The paper used in my other instructables)"

What do you mean by this? You should either describe what sort of paper you are talking about in this instructable or provide a link to it's description in one of your other instructables. If it is just regular thick paper that needs no further description then you shouldn't have qualified it with the remark in the parenthesis leading the reader to believe it was a specific type of thick paper.

[dombeef]

Sorry about that, I am on my mobil phone right now so I can't edit it now, the paper is a type that you probably couldn't get, it is used originally to separate X-ray films. You could make a subsitute out of construction paper, just glue together 3 to 4 layers, it should work

[killersquirel11]

Card stock would probably do the trick then, I think

[dombeef]

Trust me, I've done many tests before I made this, card stock is too thin if you want it to walk

[killersquirel11]

Posterboard? Might be a tad thicker than necessary but would be plenty thick, although at that point you could just use corrugated cardboard

[Kiteman]

I'd add a pulley wheel to the handle you cranked, and mount the drive motor above - looking at the friction involved, it will need to be geared down for more torque.

Good job.