Sometimes an idea sparks the moment you see something, and sometimes the spark waits years before catching light. It turns out it’s been fourteen years since I first came up with the notion of Logic Goats. In computer circuits there are things called logic gates, the little building blocks that sit at the heart of hardware. AND‑gates only switch on when both inputs are on. OR‑gates switch on when either input is on. Link enough of them together and you get the foundations of everything from calculators to supercomputers.
My original idea was to swap the gates for goats. Logic Goats instead of logic gates. You can see a full herd, And-goat, Or-goat, Not-goat and XOr Goat here.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, the spark finally arrived. Someone on Instagram shared a little video of a paper model she’d made, inspired by my old cork horse project. Suddenly the long‑dormant notion of Logic Goats and the memory of that kicking horse snapped together in a very satisfying way.
Maybe it was time for a new Logic Goat — one with a proper kicking motion rather than the polite little nod of the original.
The video at the top shows the first draft of a mechanism to bring the kicking Logic Goat to life. It’s built around two four‑bar linkages: the front legs will be fixed to the top of the box, the logic mechanism lifts the body, the rear legs kick out, and the head and neck stretch forward in a lovely, slightly chaotic way.
Looking promising, I reckon.
If you’re a premium subscriber, you’ll find an OG AND‑Goat project waiting for you, ready to print, cut, and make, just to whet your appetite.
Thank you, as always, for your support. It genuinely makes these odd little adventures possible.
If you’d like to follow the Logic Goat saga as it develops, kicks, quirks, linkages and all, do consider signing up for this newsletter. It’s the easiest way to stay in the loop, and it genuinely helps me keep making these odd little creatures.
Thanks so much for reading, and happy model‑making wherever you are; may your glue dry clear and your cams turn smoothly.
