I came across these critters on Inhabitat and couldn’t resist. You can power homes, towns, and ships, and maybe planes with wind, but what about an organism?

Artist-engineer Theo Jansen has set out to design new life on the beaches of the Netherlands. Through his work, he hopes to uncover some of the lessons that nature learned on the path to complex organisms.

Though I wouldn’t go so far as to categorize these sculptures as “artificial life“, they are certainly amazing works of art and biomimicry. Different designs are given specific problems to overcome, like moving across the sand, staying out of the surf, or anchoring down before a storm. The most efficient and successful “generations” pass their secrets onto the next creation, and the least successful are scrapped.

Jansen uses genetic algorithms in his designs, and upgrades each new “generation” by hand. All of his sculptures are wind-powered, and built from lightweight plastic pipes. He uses plastic tubing for the pneumatic systems that “power” the Strandbeests.

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