If your only pursuit when visiting the beach is to construct the most epic sandcastle imaginable, you might want to leave your pail and tiny shovel at home and instead get your hands on this fantastic castle-crafting robot arm.


Created by architects Petr Novikov, Inder Shergill and Anna Kulik, the Stone Spray robot features a nozzle on the end of a highly articulated arm that sprays a mix of sand, water, and a special binding agent that ensures these creations aren't destroyed when the tide rolls in. Some sandcastle purists might accuse them of cheating, but it's not like the creators are touring the country trying to win sandcastle competitions with the thing. It's mostly an art project with the potential of one day creating human-sized structures that could serve as emergency shelters, or just lovely beach adornments.


[Stone Spray Project via designboom]