A kit of parts both playful and educational, this cool set of components lets children design simple movement sequences and test various kinetic strategies.

LINKKI features three motors – for full rotation, limited rotation and wifi connectivity – tied into a peg board where various pieces can be plugged in to create endless combinations (particularly once you start hacking your own pieces from scratch).

“The flat mechanism makes the design process with which engineering such as mechanics, robotics, electronics, and model making is involved feel like just drawing on the paper: fast, easy, and intuitive,” writes its creator. “Flat parts also enables users to make their own parts with on-the-shelf material such as cardboard—that is, it’s easy to hack and open-ended.”

The toy kit is intended in part to engender interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) by engaging it as a kind of play and making discoveries more intuitive, casual and entertaining for kids.

The post Modular Kinetic Toy Kit Teaches Kids About Design Motion first appeared on Gajitz.

Hair dryers provide the driving force behind this mesmerizing set of simple-but-beautiful installation art projects by Antoine Terrieux, a magician and juggler with an eye for repurposing everyday objects.

Presented last year at the Maison Des Jonglages (House of Juggling) in La Courneuve, France, this series of kinetic pieces shows how simple materials can create experiential art that lasts effectively forever. Paper airplanes circle over a series of blowers in one scene, a record spins and bounces endlessly in another while a string dances in the air in yet another.

His performances, light on drama and heavy on humor, incorporate similar elements, in illustrated in one of his stage shows, segments of which are shown above. The outfits alone make the video worth watching, so at least skip through some scenes to see for yourself!

The post Perpetual Motion: Kinetic Artworks Driven by Hair Dryers first appeared on Gajitz.

Legs and the way organisms use them are signposts of the evolutionary process. Bi- and quad-pedal movement is for us silly mammals. Insects are the ones on the higher end of the evolutionary ladder. Take a look at this beetle for proof. Three separate species of dung beetle have scientists baffled with the way they seem to gallop.

The reason for this odd form of travel isn’t fully understood. The typical tripod gait most insects utilize is much more efficient, leading the layman to conclude they’ve forgone the normal bug walk for some type of cocky strut. Entomologists, however, are more logical. “The very marked pacing…might be giving it a better signal in terms of estimating the return distance from the food to its nest. When it gallops, it slips less in the soft sand,” explains Marcus Byrne, professor at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The post And They’re Off: Dung Beetle Species Gallops Like a Horse first appeared on Gajitz.

The act of throwing a beer bottle across the room and into a wall is generally quick and violent. But with the use of a custom-built mechanism and over a year of careful observation, Jonathan Schipper turned that short-lived violent act into poetry.

Over the course of twelve minutes, the robotic mechanism takes the hurling bottle from one end of the room to the other. When it reaches the wall, the bottle shatters – and immediately reverses its trajectory. The pieces go back together and the bottle returns to its place of origin.

The unusual art project is half robot and half kinetic sculpture. While exploring the nature of motion and force, it shines a light on the unexpected art and beauty that can exist in the most unexpected places.

The post Breaking Point: Robotic Sculpture Slows One Violent Moment first appeared on Gajitz.