Reader Alan W. has a fascinating hobby: Tinkering with kinetic sculptures such as marble runs or this miniature strandbeest. When he mounted a rolling marble contraption to his wall, his cat Ajax became fascinated as well.
20 thoughts on “Kinetic Contraption Confounds Cat”
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Looks like someone’s been having fun with a shiny new laser cutter. Though something tells me that project is about to get savaged.
Can’t tell, but Ajax looks to be Singapura or Abyssinian.
Abyssinian – with the lunatic personality (and the papers) to prove it!
Beautiful cat, beautiful sculpture contraption.
He’s beautiful. I love your project too.
Regal looking cat.
Rube Goldberg needed to have a cat
Definitely
Best cat-traption thing-a-ma-jig ever!
What a cutie!
Kitten: Thank you for the toy, Hooman!”
Purr-pet-ual motion machine.
This is the chaos toy from the movie Iron Man II. I do (did) Chaos Theory as a physics grad student, so immediately recognized the toy’s chaotic nature in the movie. Got it cheap on Ebay. Ajax occasionally uses it, despite getting whacked on the head from it time to time, as happens here.
The head whack only increases his fervor. It seems like a wonderful toy for cats to sharpen eye-paw coordination – and what cat wouldn’t want that!
I should look for a similar toy–my beasties/besties would love it. Ajax looks like a stripeless tiger here, he’s so graceful and focused.
Check Ebay. The toy is called “swinging sticks.” A year ago they cost about $30. Now $100. They have circuitry in the base that makes them oscillate for about a year between battery changes.
Yes, Ajax is quite the elegant boy. And he once saved his half-sister, Diana, who was accidentally locked in the fridge! He is a boy scout.
My Stripes got shut in the freezer once. He’s lucky I heard him thumping around because his sister certainly wouldn’t have saved him.
That is so darned cool, Alan! I love automata and other sorts of gizmos. I have a friend who has actually built in real life two life-sized Rube Goldberg machines. He did it as a commission for Rube Goldberg’s granddaughter for a museum – can’t remember exactly where – I think Pittsburgh??? Don’t quote me. There were no cats involved I’m afraid. Do you ever put in more than one marble at a time? I’d love to hear AND see that – and what the puss would do!
Thanks! This was my first sculpture made with Wonderstructs. I was just testing it with a single marble. There will be more complex sculptures to come, with more marbles, and more videos — almost certain to include cats.
No cats involved in the life-sized Rube Goldberg machine?! That is a sham of a mockery…
Too true – but I did get a pencil sharpened after a hand opened a window and a moth ate a garment that did something else involving an ironing board and an iron that set off a fire into a tree trunk that did something else to a bird who sharpens the pencil with its beak. (can’t quite remember ALL the steps)