Swamp Kirin coming to Maker Faire

Dale Dougherty says:

One of the more surprising entries coming to Maker Faire this year is from Seabat Studios from Fayetteville, Arkansas. It's called Swamp Kirin, a 9-foot tall, hoof to horn tip, four legged, moss covered thing. Swamp Kirin towers over the masses as it ambles lazily through the crowds. There is no age limit to the wonder that this creature is capable of inspiring.

Above is a video of the Swamp Kirin in action. Link to video.

Seabat Studios is Haley Duke and Mark Krause. If you're coming to Maker Faire, look for Swamp Kirin to make regular appearances near the Boiler Bar Theatre.

Maker Faire (makerfaire.com) is Saturday & Sunday, May 30-31st at the San Mateo Expo Center in the SF Bay Area.

Swamp Kirin coming to Maker Faire

[#1 posted by Anonymous, May 27, 2009 6:45 PM]

Well, it is a cool costume--a legs and arms stilts rig--but I'm not sure why the video is titled "halo's mechanical swamp kirin," but since I don't play Halo, I supposed I'm missing a reference.

[#2 posted by tuktuk, May 27, 2009 6:47 PM]

ok. dude in a stilt outfit. cool-lookin, but i still say that the landstriders from dark crystal were a better version of the same idea

[#3 posted by Guesstimate Jones, May 27, 2009 6:58 PM]

Is that really the Rave 'Raff, covered in shag carpet?

[#4 posted by Tom Hale, May 27, 2009 7:08 PM]

Tuktuk - agreed, but I had assumed I was the only one that remembered Dark Crystal - There is a disturbance in the force...

[#5 posted by Anonymous, May 27, 2009 7:14 PM]

Yay! Dark Crystal! It's so sad when it goes over that cliff while fighting that crab-thing.

[#6 posted by tuktuk, May 27, 2009 7:23 PM]

au contraire, mon frere! boingboing has a history of skeksi/gelfling infestations:

http://bit.ly/Jsz2K

[#7 posted by Tom Hale, May 27, 2009 7:33 PM]

Awesome - how did you do that custom search? is it
site: www.boingboing.net "dark crystal" -? or some similar google foo?

[#8 posted by tuktuk, May 27, 2009 7:40 PM]

see that search bar up there on the upper right of this very page? no, not the browser bar... yeah, that one. that one right there. type "dark crystal". now copy the resulting url, and shorten it. AMAZING DARK MAGIC!!!

[#9 posted by Tom Hale, May 27, 2009 7:44 PM]

Oh, OK thx - I guess...

[#10 posted by alowishus, May 27, 2009 8:18 PM]

Okay, the things in Dark Crystal totally freaked me out. This is worse. Much worse. It looks like it would paralyze you with its vacant stare, then lumber awkwardly over and suck your soul out through your nose.

[#11 posted by nck wntrhltr, May 27, 2009 8:21 PM]

Cue the poodle in a Fizzgig suit.

[#12 posted by FreakCitySF, May 27, 2009 8:22 PM]

Reminds me of the wheelers!

[#13 posted by Tonamel, May 27, 2009 8:37 PM]

Kind of reminds me of this video of a guy in a Klingon targ costume. These videos kind of make me want to get some srot of quadripedal costume going for next Halloween.

[#14 posted by cory, May 27, 2009 8:37 PM]

"halo seabat" seems to be the moniker used by "Haley", the woman who (I assume) is leading the Kirin in the video.

I don't think that's two guys on stilts, I think it is autonomous, but I've been wrong before.

[#15 posted by mackenzi, May 27, 2009 8:45 PM]

Hey Cory, what the hell are you trying to say?

[#16 posted by Chrs, May 27, 2009 9:07 PM]

Definitely not mechanical. Watch near the shoulder joints, you can see the in-out slipping that is typical of trying to control stilts. That degree of freedom shouldn't be present in a mechanical design for walking, unless you want to control six degrees of freedom at the shoulder (and that sucks). The position of the joints in the hind legs is appropriate to hide legs.

[#17 posted by Anonymous, May 27, 2009 9:10 PM]

"I don't think that's two guys on stilts, I think it is autonomous, but I've been wrong before."

Not two people on stilts, one person bent over on 4 on stilts, "crawling." At the very end of the video you can see the stilt waker from behind and you can see their knee bend at the exact point where it would be on a person bent over at the waist.

[#18 posted by Uptumble, May 27, 2009 9:25 PM]

Nope, that's not Haley on the side. She doesn't wear glasses. If you go to seabatstudios.com you'll get the chance to read some weird stories about all of the stuff posted. I like the last post with the interactive mermaid fossil piece.

[#19 posted by Anonymous, May 28, 2009 3:53 AM]

That thing is so awesome!

[#20 posted by Anonymous, May 28, 2009 9:09 AM]

Go fayetteville!

[#21 posted by Mister Moofoo, May 28, 2009 3:44 PM]

Way way back in the early '90's, I had an idea about making some 4-leggity stilts for cheap personal transportation, theorizing (incorrectly, perhaps) that the longer stride would make me able to go faster than regular walking. Never got around to even making test-rigs, but now I feel like I should try my hand, so to speak, at making one of my oldest dreams a reality. Sure, I'm 35 now instead of 19, but why should that stop me?

[#22 posted by Anonymous, May 28, 2009 3:47 PM]

Actually it's not a 'dude' in the costume, she is a very talented and beautiful lady named Haley (hence the "halo")

Another Fayetteville artist is joining her with some great kinetic iron sculptures, we have a plethora of great artists here in Fayetteville, others have been featured on BB before

more on the story here

http://www.fayettevilleflyer.com/2009/05/28/fayetteville-artists-headed-to-san-francisco-for-maker-faire/

yay Fayetteville AR!