Lets keep things complicated

I am a massive fan of elaborate, over the top, complex mechanisms that achieve small tasks. I love everything from the countless examples of Rube Goldberg machines out there to the imaginative and humorous scribblings of Heath Robinson. This mechanism designed by Rob Higgs is a beautifully elaborate autonomous bottle opener/pouring device. I find it quite hard to imagine how you would begin to build an object like this.

Automation on a new level

I have learnt so much from the ambles of the great minds published on Ted talks.  Recently the most inspirational talk has been about Theo Jansen . Nature is a most peculiar thing and these automaton are impressive in their likeness to some very familiar living things. Its quite daunting to imaging what research goes into realising the behavior of and creating such objects as the ones in the video.