The proportions used in the animation for the Klann linkage are from a project from the summer of 2008. A few other configurations are posted on the Concept Page.
Klann Linkage in Phun
This is a fairly extreme example done in phun. The foot steps higher than the vehicle during each stride, it has decent ground clearance, and it does a respectable job of climbing provided there are foot holds. There are compromises in efficiency between step height and speed and on a relatively smooth surface the wheel wins every time.
To paraphrase the accompanying Dutch text (shortly and sweetly), the lengths for the leg segments were generated by a genetic algorithm. A little less short and sweet (and therefore truer to the source):
"In the computer 1500 legs were created with segments of random lengths. The computer examined which legs approached the ideal walking gait and selected the best 100. These got the privilege to reproduce themselves. Their segment lengths were recombined to create a new generation of 1500 legs, which showed resemblance with their parents and were again tested on against the ideal curve. This process ran day and night for many generations over the course of several months.
"Eventually thirteen numbers resulted, indicating the ideal lengths for each segment. The eventual result became the leg of the Animaris Currens Vulgaris, the first current Strandbeest. But Vulgaris strongly resists running from time to time. A new computer evolution provided the legs for the species which followed.
Here are the magic numbers: [and then the list of lengths, as seen in Ryan's diagram.]"
Larry G. - 26MAR09 -
I was reading your comparison, and saw Ryan's "clarification" drawing. I think Ryan may have misinterpreted the termination point of link "K" on his version of Theo's drawing.
Jansen shows it ending on the crank end, at the intersection of "J" and "M" (and his Strandbeests do it there).
Ryan shows "K" terminating on the intersection of "A" and "L", at the hub of the crank. If it were there, it wouldn't move.
Ryan - 21MAR09 -
Ryan made a drawing for people who can’t make out the numbers or letters in the initial drawing he sent.
Jansen Linkage
Ryan - 15OCT08 -
I did some digging and found this diagram of Theo Jansen's mechanism in his own hand. It took all of my interweb delving ability to find, but thought you might be interested to see it. I attached it. One interesting thing is that the actual cranking point (you'll have to forgive my improper terminology--what I mean is the point that, if it were on a bicycle, would be called the bottom bracket) is not on mounted on a horizontal line with the other fixed point of the linkage, but is actually raised up a bit. In every iteration I've seen of the linkage, this has been wrong. I confirmed it by watching the videos I could find on Theo Jansen. I'm not quite sure how much it affects the linkage, but... yeah... thought you might be interested to see it. You can see it in the drawing (though poorly). By the drawing, the amount it is raised from the stationary horizontal line is "L=7.8" and the squashed crank is "M=15." To my knowledge I'm the only one who has caught this... This does make me wonder, though, because Theo talks about his "11 holy numbers" in some of the videos and there are 13 total... I'm not sure what this means, but anyway!
Jansen's Dimensions
