The coffee table that walks

September 16, 2024 5:52 AM

Motors and specially designed legs-- it brings your snacks to you. How it was designed and made
posted by Nancy Lebovitz (22 comments total)

I'm glad there are people who can see projects like this through to completion.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:34 AM on September 16, 2024 [2 favorites]

Even the coffee tables are evolving into crabs now! (previously)
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:43 AM on September 16, 2024 [7 favorites]

It's much more robust looking than I was imagining - and without wheels!
posted by bluefly at 7:14 AM on September 16, 2024

just need to put those on luggage...
posted by Clowder of bats at 7:20 AM on September 16, 2024 [7 favorites]

just need to put those on luggage...
Funny you say this -- this functional art was brought to my attention by the Discworld subreddit.
posted by cobaltnine at 7:22 AM on September 16, 2024 [8 favorites]

After watching that video on compliant mechanisms in the Rolamite thread, it makes me think you could make each leg a one-piece compliant mechanism, just, you know, not made out of wood.
posted by jabah at 7:45 AM on September 16, 2024 [1 favorite]

Heck, consult with bowyers and maybe compliant legs *could* be made out of wood.
posted by clew at 7:57 AM on September 16, 2024

Cool design. It needs to fit through a doorway. While I watch football from the couch someone, my partner, has to load it up in the kitchen with beer and food and send it to me so my fat ass never has to move from the couch. I can send the dirty dishes back to the kitchen. That way, partner does not have to scream at me to bring in the dirty dishes as they are about to run the dishwasher. Win-win.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 7:58 AM on September 16, 2024

This is either Really Cool OR it needs to be Burnt With Fire.

(...haven't quite decided yet....)
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 8:01 AM on September 16, 2024

Needs voice control. Either that or a another Carpentopod to bring me the remote for the one with the drinks on it.
posted by flabdablet at 8:23 AM on September 16, 2024 [1 favorite]

So cool! More wooden tech please!
posted by TheophileEscargot at 10:30 AM on September 16, 2024 [1 favorite]

I wish these walking linkages didn't require so much precision to make (sub-millimeter for this one, according to the author). I'd love to make some but they seem out of reach for anyone without CNC/laser cutting/3D printing capability.

Maybe you just need to go big? Theo Janssen uses plastic pipes, after all...
posted by echo target at 10:59 AM on September 16, 2024 [1 favorite]

I am imagining a stained and scratched up table bumping its shorter edge against the front door of a neighbor in hopes of finding someone who’ll appreciate it and treat it as it should be treated.
posted by jamjam at 11:02 AM on September 16, 2024 [3 favorites]

Looking round me again, I saw that, quite near, what I had taken to be a reddish mass of rock was moving slowly towards me. Then I saw the thing was really a monstrous crab-like creature. Can you imagine a crab as large as yonder table, with its many legs moving slowly and uncertainly...?
posted by doctornemo at 11:40 AM on September 16, 2024

I am delighted by this in theory but if I saw one in real life I would freak out crazy bad. Fascinating concept for a puppetry-focused stage play of Beauty and the Beast, I think. Also reminds me of my friends’ table-shaped corgi.
posted by Mizu at 12:00 PM on September 16, 2024

I was lucky enough to be able to pet the walking table this weekend at an event in Eindhoven and it is entrancing in person. The ability to move slowly and smoothly and then quickly accelerate caused quite a few jump scares. The builders GA to find optimisations on the Strandbeest linkage is really cool too.
posted by autopilot at 12:03 PM on September 16, 2024 [6 favorites]

Isn’t that the same mechanism as the Strandbeest?
posted by leotrotsky at 7:24 PM on September 16, 2024 [1 favorite]

It's similar to the Strandbeest, but slightly different - there's an extra joint and the ratios are changed. The creator says it's more compact than the Jansen linkage and has less foot slide.
posted by echo target at 9:15 PM on September 16, 2024 [1 favorite]

Will this make my Heathkit Hero Jr. obsolete?
posted by credulous at 9:36 PM on September 16, 2024

Strandbeasts are wind-powered as far as I know. The table has motors.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 1:40 AM on September 17, 2024

The strandbeesten are mostly wind powered although during the summer when van Jansen was testing a new one the kite sail didn't work, so we helped him push it by hand. I grabbed a few of the fallen zipties from the beach for my own 3D printed strandbeest so that I could claim it was an offspring from his real ones.
posted by autopilot at 2:08 AM on September 17, 2024 [5 favorites]

For some reason, I am reminded of Rincewind's luggage... Straight out of Discworld.
posted by coppertop at 6:22 PM on October 15, 2024 [1 favorite]