Theo Jensen and mechanical artificial life
In know everyone posts Ted talks, but this is one from a while ago that I really enjoyed. Its a great introduction to Theo Jansen, the Dutch artist/designer/engineer most famous for his Strandbeests - exotic skeletal structures made from plastic tubes, bottles and sails. These strandbeests represent an entirely mechanical artificial life, deriving power from the wind, and as Jansen has evolved his designs he has supplemented them with ingenious devices for power storage, environment sensing (comparable to mechanical Braitenberg vehicles), determining direction and more.
