Meet Scott, a commercial welder who by day runs his own sheet metal fabricating business in Sacramento with 3 other colleagues, and by night, he constructs metal geodesic dome mutant vehicles and pod cabins.
Inspired by Theo Janssen's StrandBeest, Scott created his own Bucky ball like mutant vehicle for this year's Burning Man event to cruise around the playa at Black Rock City. With initial approval for his design from the Burning Man Department of Mutant Vehicles (DMV), he set out to construct his Walking Pod, a mutated version of the Strandbeest, with a focus on creating a moving platform to cross the hostile terrain while providing a comfortable living space inside.
A ladder to climb into the Pod
With time and money constraints he spent his free weekends and nights searching for surplus materials to construct his geodesic mutant vehicle. Fabricating parts in his workshop using only his welding skills and a CNC plasma table, Scott planned and built the vehicle in 3 months.
Constructed from scrap metal parts, sheet metal, tubing, industrial dishwasher motors, deep cell batteries, speed controllers and polycarbonate scraps the vehicle weighs approximately the same as a VW beetle at 1800 pounds.
A closer look at the Walking Pod's Dishwasher Motor