Sallyportal: Madly Blogging Reed

The Belly of the Beest

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.

This is hardly the first dynamic structure DxOxTxUx has created in the SU (although it may be the most maneuverable). In past years, the group has built a goliath human hamster wheel, an epic see-saw couch, and a giant couch swing. Almost makes you wish Reed had an engineering department!
beest.jpg

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Chris Lydgate ’90
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