Sallyportal: Madly Blogging Reed

The Belly of the Beest

By Chris Lydgate '90 on November 07, 2011 09:55 AM

The spirit of invention is alive and kicking--or at least creeping.

A band of ingenious Reedies has pulled off a engineering triumph known as the Beest, a wheelless vehicle with twelve articulated legs, which scuttles across the floor of the SU like a gargantuan headless spider.

Inspired by Danish sculptor Theo Jansen and his exotic StrandBeest, David Lansdowne '09, Michael Page '10, and their co-conspirators in the student group DxOxTxUx (Defenders of the Universe) bolted their Beest together out of particleboard and two-by-fours. Here David shows editor Chris Lydgate '90 how the creature works--and walks.

 

beest.jpg

Tags: dxoxtxux, engineering, student life, SU