• mnahkies 10 months ago

    That's pretty cool - reminds me of "the luggage" from Terry Pratchett's books in table form (https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/The_Luggage)

    • shiroiushi 10 months ago

      It reminds me of the book "Man of Two Worlds" by Frank Herbert and his son Brian. In it, some crazy inventor guy built his own car, but instead of wheels like any normal car, it had legged robots on each end that carried it. The inventor's son complained that this car was impractical as it couldn't travel as fast as a normal car.

    • unwind 10 months ago

      Meta: this was posted 2 weeks ago [1], with 50+ comments.

      [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41491016

      • croes 10 months ago

        It's the better link because it's the original source

      • ok_dad 10 months ago

        The creator used a genetic algorithm to design the optimal leg mechanism for smoothness.

        The video is pretty cool:

        https://youtube.com/watch?v=xKDY4yWxfJM&e

        • kleiba 10 months ago

          That's a video of the table walking. It would have been super interesting to see a video of the different steps of the optimization process as a 3D animation, but that's a bit too much to ask.

          • ok_dad 10 months ago

            I’m sorry, I forgot the write up was where the genetic algo was shown:

            https://www.decarpentier.nl/carpentopod

            He does have animations of the process just not 3D.

            • kleiba 10 months ago

              Cool, thanks!

        • GrumpyNl 10 months ago

          Movement looks like the movement from wind powered sculptures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj-NqWDH2qE&ab_channel=TheNe...

          • mijoharas 10 months ago

            Ah, I almost reposted this since i didn't see anyone reference Strandbeest's[0] which I believe is the name for them.

            [0] https://www.strandbeest.com/

            • grues-dinner 10 months ago

              As it indeed says in the second sentence. It's a modification of the design for smoother movement. Which seems to work well since that bottle stayed put.

              • ramon156 10 months ago

                Coincidentally, its another dutch man

              • grues-dinner 10 months ago

                Interesting that it's made out of laminated bamboo. Often this kind of thing is plywood which is its own aesthetic but I think not as nice (and a nightmare if the plywood is big box store crap and not excellent quality). It's a great, dimensionally stable material but really a hassle to get hold of here in non-bulk quantities. I wanted some bamboo sheets for a knife rack and ended up buying table mats at retail and cutting them down.

                • maxglute 10 months ago

                  great parking job

                  much more comprehensive write up from creator

                  https://www.decarpentier.nl/carpentopod

                  • rsynnott 10 months ago

                    > Giliam de Carpentier

                    Nice bit of nominative determinism, there.

                    • Cthulhu_ 10 months ago

                      That's really cool, I really appreciate how the legs are barely extending beyond the table itself. I wonder how much it could carry, whether it could also be a trunk (someone else already mentioned the Luggage), cabinet, or fridge. (The walk-ing fridge pun was already used in a beer advert)

                      • rightbyte 10 months ago

                        That is a really interesting mechanism. So smooth.

                        I looks like something retro-futuristic.

                        • undefined 10 months ago
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