Inspired by Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests, this is a video demonstration of Dutch game designer Giliam de Carpentier’s Carpentopod, a wooden coffee table that walks and can be remote controlled. Carpentopod, fetch me a beer! “Remote controlled, not voice controlled.” Riiiiight. *tossing empty can on floor* Well it could use a software upgrade.

Back in 2008, I wrote some software for fun to generate various optimized walking mechanisms. And when I also picked up some electronics and wood working skills in more recent years, I was able to turn one of these mechanisms into an actual wireless walking wooden coffee table: the Carpentopod.

The engineering, the woodworking — what a thing of beauty. All I can think about is how much my downstairs neighbors would absolutely love if I had one of these. Leaving passive-aggressive notes on my door seems to be like, their raison d’etre.