Theo Jansen spoke at the TED convention (if you haven't heard of it check it out, "tedtalks" on youtube. Amazing people with extraordinary ideas) and the video was quite interesting. He treats these creations as actual lifeforms and you'll probably find yourself questioning the same thing once you find out how simple, yet wonderfully effective they are.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b694exl_oZo