We got to visit the Exploratorium in San Francisco this past weekend, and saw Theo Jansen's Strandbeest Exhibit. For those of you that haven't seen a Strandbeests, prepare to have your mind blown.
This rare opportunity to see the Strandbeests in person, will be at the Exploratorium from now until September 5, 2016. I strongly urge you to check them out while you can. The Exploatorium has something for everyone, lots of amazing hands on science, and fun for the whole family. Check out some of our pictures here
I took some videos, showing a couple of the Strandbeests in action. My son and I got to push them around! It was actually easier to move than I had thought! I still can't figure out the compressed air/pistons mechanism, even up close studying them. I'm not sure if I'm more impressed with the art of the machine, or the artist who made the machine. Either way, just awe inspiring.
My Hamster walker was also on display there, as part of this Strandbeest exhibit. This is the second time that I've had my tinkerings displayed at the Exploratorium. The first time was showing my steam robots, and talked about making Skylanders toys: toys: http://crabfuartworks.blogspot.com/2012/01/exploratorium-webcast-toys.html
The current November issue of Popular Science included a little blurb about my Hamster Walker! This is the second time that I've been in the magazine, the first was when I made the Putterbot back in 2009. Popsci website had previously covered the Hamster Walker video, but now it's in the magazine! The little machine is currently on display at the Peabody Essex Museum through January, with the amazing creations of Theo Jansen's Strandbeest.
My Hamster Walker made a few second apparence on CBS This Morning. I love this interview with Theo Jansen! This exhibit is currently at the Peabody Essec Museum
Hamster Walker displayed next to other amazing Strandbeest creations!
They've included the original video next to the Hamster Walker.
Below is the schedule for Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen. I am looking forward to see it at the Exploratorium next year! Theo Jansen is a legend in the maker world, and I can't wait to see his machines in real life. If you don't know who Theo is, and what his creations are, you must see them in action:http://www.strandbeest.com/
Peabody Essex Museum, September 19, 2015 - January 3, 2016
Chicago Cultural Center, February 6 - May 1, 2016
The Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA, May 25 - September 5, 2016
My Hamster Powered Walker is in the new National Geographic Kids; 125 True Stories of Amazing Pets! Glad to see my nieces Gracie and Daisy got quoted! You can get a copy from Amazon
It reads:
Princess the Hamster Robot Pilot
Dixon, California, U.S.A.
Who puts the “ham” in “ham-bot?” Princess the hamster! When animator and robot-maker I-Wei Huang engineered a machine to be powered by a hamster, he asked his nieces Gracie and Daisy Ballance if their pint-sized pet could serve as a test pilot. “Our uncle made this crazy hamster-ball walking thing,” says Gracie. Turns out Princess was the perfect furball to power it up. “She got in the ball and ran super-fast,” says Daisy. Princess was a pro right from the start, super-charging the robotic walker with every paw-pounding plastic twirl. Go, Princess, go! At one point, she ran so fast, she almost powered the robot right off the table.
I recently blogged about being in Gakken magazine, and mentioned that I have ideas to hack the mini wind powered Strandbeest that comes with it. Well I am happy to say that it worked! I give you, the Hamster Powered Strandbeest.
In the magazine, Gakken had converted the mini strandbeest into almost everything imaginable, including solar power, rubber band powered, and even micro processor control. So of course I thought about steam power, but quickly decided that it would be more pain than I'm willing to suffer. Plastic does not like heat very much, and the kind of weight a steam plant intruduces, would be a nightmare for this kit. If it was much bigger and stronger, I probably would have done it, but thankfully, I had another even sillier idea.
The hamster powered? that's just stupid, which is the exact reason why I did it. It's different, hasn't been done before, yet it's in so many what's-under-the-hood jokes. It also had a high likelyhood of working, so I had to attempt it. Only problem: I don't have a hamster, I don't want a hamster for a pet, and I don't know what sort of power and weight a little critter like that has. All I know is that I've seen them go ballistic on the hamster wheel, and so they must have great weight to power ratio.
Original Gakken Strandbeest, gears and fan removed
I quickly removed the gearing and windmill, cut some plastic and mounted a hamster ball to this contraption. I used ball bearings on the hamster ball axels, and mecanno sprockets/chain to transfer the power from the hamster ball to the main crank. I did some initial testing with my son's motorized train inside of the hamster ball, so I had fair confidence on the gear ratio needed for it to work.
Then my sister in law (who runs a great craft blog, Crafty Carnival) came to the rescue, and was able to borrow one of her friend's pet hamster. Enter Princess the Hamster. Princess is a tiny little thing, much smaller than what I had imagined and prepared for. I was afriad that her weight wouldn't be enough to get the ball going. But luckily it all worked out great, and test pilot Princess had no problems getting the strandbeest up to speed.
When the cat walked in, I expected that it would provide some motivation on both parties, but they didn't really cared about each other. In fact, Princess kept going towards to cat, and eventually the cat just lost interest and walked away. Anyway check out the video, and a special thanks to Princess, and her owner for letting me borrow her for a few minutes! Now the nieces (two girls in the video) wants their own hamster, so I may get some more test pilots in the near future ;)
edit:
Princess and the walker has made it into the current issue of MAKE Magazine! and a brief appearance on TV Asahi's Torihada in Japan!
We got to visit the Exploratorium in San Francisco this past weekend, and saw Theo Jansen's Strandbeest Exhibit. For those of you that haven't seen a Strandbeests, prepare to have your mind blown. 
