Some tables have three legs; most have four or more. Some tables stand on a single pedestal. And some have eight legs that, with a nudge, can walk like a robot.
This 2011 video shares a demonstration of a 2006 Walking Table design by Dutch furniture designer Wouter Scheublin, filmed by Benjamin Loyauté.
Like Theo Jansen’s famous Strandbeests, the carefully engineered table “comes to life and mimics a natural walking motion” when pushed or pulled. The table stays stable while it walks thanks to a unique leg design; each side of the table has two pairs of legs that take turns extending and contracting.
The animation below, a 2021 demonstration video from the mechanics-focused SailCG channel, appears to deconstruct the engineering of Scheublin’s walking table:
Watch these handpicked videos next:
• Beach Creatures: Theo Jansen and his Strandbeests
• Caterpillar machines by kinetic artist Reuben Margolin
• Boneshaker Big Wheel 2014: Penny-farthing + Strandbeest
• The Wave Cabinet by Sebastian Errazuriz
• How is the Branca Chair made?
• Extravagant furniture with secret panels, doors, and drawers
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