Theo Jansen

20 Replies to “Theo Jansen”

1. Did you check the cost of the BMW workers? LOL

2. hey a wind driven beamer.

3. Here’s another very cool machine I saw on TV a while ago; totally useless, but interesting to watch.
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us7YB7eiOeQ

4. …talk about sand crabs!
   Preview of the Y2Koyoto Beamer of the future?

5. Speaking as an engineer, that is cool!

6. What John Cross said

7. Unreal.

8. Ditto what John Cross said.
   Very cool, kinda creepy cool.

9. Driven by compressed air too. Cool stuff!

10. It is as if I just saw machines or life from another planet. Amazing!

11. I have a friend who is a “modern” artist. He makes sculptures that are apparently appreciated by his peers, but have no use. Evaluating his sculptures is difficult, as there are no parameters on which to judge them. There is no basis on which to declare him to possess anythin that could be called talent. I want very badly to tell him that the emporer has no clothes. On the other hand, Theo Jansen clearly has talent. He has produced somthing that should make most people marvel. This is art.

12. …Rod Sterling:
    “Imagine lying on the beach on your back during twilight zone time of day and…”
    do do do doooo…
    “Out of nowhere this unearthly crab killing machine approaches”

13. Any lad who ever played with a Meccano set would be green with envy.
    Now a trip to grandmother’s house to see if that kit is still in the attic…

14. There’s something ineffable there, seeing that creation being animated by the wind and the human mind at the same time. Mind and matter in harmony, above the earth, and from the earth, through man…That’s great in so many ways. Chilling. Awesome.

15. The combination of the design of Theo’s linkage mechanism, and his coupling of parallel modules thereof, is the engineering foundation on which he bases his art. The following video shows a simple geometric model of the linkage mechanism designed by Theo, which is known as the Jansen Mechanism, in simple two-dimensional geometry:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CufN43By79s
    This video shows the mechanism using three-dimensional constructive solid geometry:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GgOn66knqA
    We did linkage design and analysis in the second or third mechanical engineering course I took when I was an undergraduate, so I would like to note that I appreciate the simple intricacy of Theo’s design. The first really neat thing about Theo’s linkage is that while “foot” A is moving in the y direction, foot B remains at y equals zero (that it, it is on the ground), and vice versa, even as the linkage as a whole continues changing its nominal x value. It may be that other linkages can be designed with this property, but the important thing is that Theo’s design has this property.
    The second neat thing is that Theo then gangs these linkage modules together to create a stable dynamic system. One such linkage module cannot walk, due to the gravity which is not included in the above simulation models. Even two will still tip over (unless you have active dynamic control, which Theo does not).
    Yet once you have four or more modules ganged together, simple module phase synchronization gives you three or more feet on the ground at any time. Then, once you’ve got the engineering done, you can engage in art, such as Theo’s gratuitous (though perhaps beautiful) wings.
    Theo seems like a neat guy, who I certainly would find interesting to have a beer with, yet he did say one thing that stuck in my craw: “The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds”. I don’t agree. There is a causal “wall”, in the sense that engineering, or if you prefer technology, precedes art in the temporal dimension: you can’t sing without a voice, you can’t paint without paint.
    Anyway, I do think that Theo has achieved art, though, of course, if I built a large-scale model of this ganged linkages, I would do the aesthetics differently. Non disputantum de gustibus est.

16. I don’t normally bother correcting the numerous but occasional and yet easily understandable mistakes that I make in the logology of my comments, but really, Vitruvius, if you’re going to go parading around here with a Latin pen-name, you could at least get “de gustibus non est disputandum” correct. Sheesh. Sorry about that.

17. well it just goes to show ya’ vitruvius, despite your mumbojumbo, I like it. It’s very…fluent

18. If it comes with leather seats, I’ll take one!

19. Some might call dead rabbits strung up by the river art I don’t.
    This I liked though, way cool.

20. Too bad those Europeans couldn’t use the talent to build a automobile that would have less affinity for the repair shop. Too much time on their hands?