On a windswept beach on the Dutch coast, Theo Jansen's Strandbeesten (beach animals), stalk across the wet sand. It's hard to know quite what to make of them.
Are they art, engineering or nascent forms of artificial life? They straddle all these definitions, just as their creator has brought together his background in science and art to create a curious new form of mechanical life.
Jansen gave up studying a degree in Physics in 1975 to become a painter. Five years later he returned to explore his earlier life by designing and building a 4 meter-wide flying saucer. It actually flew, taking to the skies over Delft, Netherlands, confounding and scaring the locals. 
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