Amazing Mechanical Elephant Is Not Afraid of USB Mice

Steampunk may be tired, but this mechanical elephant doesn’t need any labels to leave us speechless with its design and detail. It’s just simply stunning, from tail to trunk. Built over the course of three and a half month by photographer/designer/cool-guy-at-large Andrew Chase, the 38kg elephant automaton is made out of “transmission parts, electrical conduits, plumbing pipes and 20-gauge cold rolled steel.” The robot is part of a book he is writing, called the Robot Trionic Morphatractable Engineer. As you will see in the gallery, the designs he’s creating for that are even more spectacular than the elephant.

The whole thing has a Dalí feeling mixed with a crisp, industrial punk feeling that is completely irresistible. At least for me, anyway. [Baekdal and Andrew Chase via Book of Joe]