Sigh...
Generally speaking, I love modern art but - oh, dear...
Our hearts went pitter-pat here on the Register exoskeletons, walkers and mighty roaring machinery desk just now, when we got a press release telling us that all our dreams had come true - or some of them anyway. It says: Hydraulic walking machine to thunder through botanic garden A hydraulic-powered mechanical beast will …
If something is "art" people don't need to be told that its art - they can see it immediately. "Modern art" is the label slapped on talent free rubbish that normal people might mistake for something the binmen will be coming to collect if they weren't informed otherwise. Unfortunatelty people in the art world seem to think that you can call any old rubbish "art" and voila - art it is! Umm , no , it isn't. A turd is still a turd no matter how many pretty bows you tie around it.
Though I do feel rather sorry for this guy - if he'd been around in the 1970s he could probably have secured a top job at British Leylands tractor design studio.
No it's not art - classical art, modern art or any other sort of art. It's a mildly curious experiment in creating some sort of inefficient alternative agricultural machine - it's good at destroying turf, and that's about it.
If you want to see art meet engineering have a look at Theo Jansen's wind powered walking machines - serious engineering and quite beautiful art - video on TED http://www.ted.com/talks/theo_jansen_creates_new_creatures.html
He must know some totally useless dancers.
Note: Yorkshire Sculpture Park is in the grounds of Bretton Park, a mile up the A637 from J38 of the M1. It's a nice place for a relaxing day out for the entire family. As well as the 'modern' sculpture exhibitions, there are the original buildings of the country house and also one of the finest yew hedges I've ever seen (10 years ago).
Walkers were permitted a higher limit on the overall mass of the machine which was intended to compensate for some of the flaws you mention.
I was a bit disappointed that the walkers never got a look-in in that series.
It was great to see the evolution of Panic Attack (2), at one time the undisputed champion for more than a couple of years running IIRC.
I used to go to Diggerland when I lived in the north east - who doesn't love machinery that can rip a humans head off, and that's just a skid steer.
As for robot art, check out the Earth Bound Misfits (juggling troup) stilt robot, robotstiltskin - sure it's human powered but it's means as the proverbial!