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This clip from Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention profiles kinetic sculptor and artist Theo Jansen. Jansen builds giant insect-like structures -- which he calls 'strandbeests' -- out of yellow plastic tubing. He lets the strandbeests go on the beaches where they move independently with the wind.
Video by BBC
On his Web site, Theo Jansen explains some of the mechanisms his "animals" have "adapted" over time, including a wind storage system:
Self-propelling beach animals like Animaris Percipiere have a stomach . This consists of recycled plastic bottles containing air that can be pumped up to a high pressure by the wind. This is done using a variety of bicycle pump, needless to say of plastic tubing. Several of these little pumps are driven by wings up at the front of the animal that flap in the breeze. It takes a few hours, but then the bottles are full. They contain a supply of potential wind. Take off the cap and the wind will emerge from the bottle at high speed. The trick is to get that untamed wind under control and use it to move the animal.
Listen to Theo Jansen speak more about his strandbeests in his TED Talk.
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