Hello!

We are The Beasts, a team of five Mechanical Engineering students at Columbia University in New York City. Together, we created one of the first ever single person Pedal Powered Strandbeests.

Inspired by Dutch kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen’s Strandbeest moving mechanisms, this project was to design and build a pedal-powered walking vehicle. One of the unique characteristics of Jansen’s closed-chain mechanism is the smoothness of the walking motion. Our design aimed to support a rider seated atop a custom frame attached to a set of two Strandbeest legs on either side. The rider moves forward by pedaling the vehicle and is able to turn the vehicle by shifting either set of the legs into reverse.

In addition to the design and analysis processes, this project involved numerous methods of manufacturing. We custom made over 300 parts, using processes such as, but not limited to 3D-printing, machining and laser cutting. The total part count exceeded 1000 parts.