During the period 1960-1962, Van Hoeydonck worked on a series of assemblages, made from disparate elements scavenged on the banks of the Antwerp port. Following a series of 'Boîtes à Monocles', Van Hoeydonck fabricated 'Bonhommes', robot-like creatures, consisting of wooden planks and metal objects. Both subjects originated from a reaction to the conservative establishment's criticism concerning his avant-garde ZERO 'Light Works'. Somehow, from his planets to his robots, Paul Van Hoeydonck was always years ahead of art market fashions. In 1964, Pierre Restany aptly baptised Van Hoeydonck as the 'archaeologist of the future'.
These pre-figurations of his later 'Homo Spatiens' are contemporary to the British sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi's humanoid creatures in bronze. Back in 1991, Whitford Fine Art introduced these playful and satyrical 'Bonhommes' and 'Boîtes à Monocles' to the London market.

Van Hoeydonck's works are held by museums worldwide: Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna, Rome; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.