The LEGO Turing Machine

[baldaiaj]

I don't get it?

[pokemonhunt97]

@REDluckyMAN 5 is a odd number 1,3,5

[REDluckyMAN]

Who is dumb enough to not even know that 5 is a odd number?!5 isn't even it's odd......

[appleintosh]

I used to know if 5 was even or odd until i took an arrow to the knee...

[KingMid4s]

Greeat job!



[xzhd1028]

but will it blend?

[JeffersonRodrigoo]

@xzhd1028 kkkkkkkkkkkkkk

[ItzJustConnor]

how is it reading

[masterCameron1001]

I know this song, it is from THE A-TEAM!!!! :D

[tmwatz]

@manuel84xyz. How rude, my 10 year old son wrote that!

[99nimmy]

what dpoes it do

[MaxandFredsmum]

I want 1

[TheWrekker]

This video is hilarious! The A-Team theme music ties it all together perfectly.

[king6238]

Subject to availability, LOL

[tmwatz]

I Don't get it

[manuel84xyz]

@tmwatz Suitable for smart people only, sorry.

[bubbleman5001]

How am I supposed to understand geek language.what's so good

[ViliVelho]

-Infinite tape*

-Infinite storage*

-Unlimited computability*

*Subject to availability LMAOROTF

[Harley3022]

Gay

[Harley3022]

Gay

[rsmmartins]

briliant



[machrnejvetsi]

Have you tried to implement an universal turing machine using this TM? :-)

[Ards777]

Interesting implementation and even the write speed is slower than reading :D

[yaseen157]

can you make it write in binary?

[ck0143]

just want to hack it by moving some box on tape

have fun

[surferdude7474]

what does it do!?!

[machrnejvetsi]

@surferdude7474 Everything you want!! ;-)

[EarthquakeMachine]

Very nice, but the music SUCKS SO BAD

[KeauHou17]

@EarthquakeMachine The A-Team rules, you suck :D

[mmtrebuchet]

So I was teaching a workshop on computers to middle schoolers not too long ago. Nobody was looking forward to my theory lecture. Then I showed this video, and everyone was suddenly excited about Turing machines. It's a really cool video, and demonstrates the inherent limitations (and lack thereof) of a TM better than just about any other description out there. Plus it's exciting, and the music is awesome!

Thanks,

MMTrebuchet.

[andnissen]

@mmtrebuchet Thank you for your comment. It's really nice to hear that people find our silly video entertaining and - as in your case - even educational :)

[JesseAStern]

@andnissen How long did this project take and how much did it cost? I have to talk to a lot of laymans when explaining complexity theory and this is just a fantastic way to begin conceptualizing an otherwise theoretical model. Also, did you implement the blank symbol by representing it as being a lego that is neither in the 1 or 0 state (so in the middle of the row and therefore setting of both sensors) because if so that would allow for a lot more possibilities (as otherwise its just an LBA).

[andnissen]

@JesseAStern We did the project over the course of half a semester, i.e. about 2 months. We used a Mindstorms 2 educational package consisting of a standard Mindstorms 2 set and another box of additional sensors etc..

Regarding blank symbols, we can use an arbitrary number of bits (LEGO blocks) to encode each cell. Using a cell-size of two bits, we can choose that the blank symbol is encoded by 00, and true is 01, false 10 and still have 11 available as additional data.

[Tjlpotten]

Strictly this uses a UTM (the PC in the background) to simulate the other (the LEGO robot). I still want one!

[thegothmog]

Fake, not a Turing Machine, tape is clearly finite, this is a joke.

On a more serious note, this may be mankind's greatest achievement.

[rbaleksandar]

@thegothmog If it were an infinite tape, the Lego TM would have been working on an infinite set therefore the video would have been infinite. In theory we usually look at the bigger picture and work with infinity...On paper! In practice such things are irrelevant for they are representing infinity and there is no way that you can work on something like that. That's why in the real world we deal with finite sets (even if they are HUGE, they are still finite).

[rbaleksandar]

@thegothmog It's also good to mention that when using TM one usually tries to solve a problem in such a way, that the TM terminates. Endless loops are bad, although they are part of the Turing theory.

[Tjlpotten]

@thegothmog This is/was wonderful! When I was 12 (some 45 years ago) I built a TM not unlike this. I used a train set and mechano (not lego). Each 'station' or cell was a see-saw switch which a solenoid on the train could flip from '1' to '0' (the best I could store). PCs did not exist so all my logic was done with RELAYs and diodes the state table was a simple 'patch panel', but was essentially the same as yours just hardware exactly the opposite of the thought machine from Alan T.

[Meanie010]

Is it sapient yet?

[Norfeldt]

Awesome..

[MMcC86]

My life is (Turing) complete.

[unsound64]

I need one.

[filipepw]

the end is sadistic... Alan Turing is long dead..

did he come from the grave to say that lego TM is "cool" ??

[SammelJannus]

A Turing Machine controlled by computer? It doesn't make sense? ^^^^

[TAz69x]

thx dude, this video gave me a huge b0ner

=3

[gazawrc]

This is unreal.

[bitbuckethead]

I especially like the operator sitting on top.

[bitbuckethead]

Very funny and awesome!

[fermixx]

- Teacher, what is this automata course useful for?

- Well you'll be able to understand this video.

- Anything else?

- Emmmmm, let's continue proving why the "hello world" program is undecidable.

[xXbrokenskaterXx]

But can it run Crysis?

[tacitr]

@xXbrokenskaterXx Yes, it can, but the frame rate is TERRIBLE.

[LynneWhitehorn]

@xXbrokenskaterXx - eventually



[dsavix4]

@xXbrokenskaterXx Who cares? I've been wondering if 5 is an even or odd number MY ENTIRE LIFE

[serpent49374]

Awesome!

[Entertainmentwf]

Very nice. The only tiff I have is that there is no such thing as 'unlimited' computability. Computability is always limited even with Turing Machines since if it were unlimited the Turing Machine would be able to solve all decision problems(which it cannot). Computability Theory first lesson. Just saying.

[jaffabend]

That is cool. How many MIPD do you rate it at? (Millions of Instructions Per Decade).

[snokpelle]

How can anyone dislike this?

[Billyiswatchingyou]

seriously, a-team? xD

[MonoCabron123]

Sir, you are awesome.

[fennecfanatic]

Hilarious. Awesome.

[TheTechguy99]

a team theme nice touch

[progrockkeyboardist]

This is more like a linear bounded automaton, but anyway, this is great. The only thing that prevented this from being absolutely perfect is that the GUI was made in Java.

[jacksawild]

If the A-Team had actually got their hands on Lego instead of spare machine parts they would have brought about the end of all life on Earth as we know it. Never underestimate the A-team. The A-team were busy beavers.( Pun intended.)

Nice work.

[TheVitafit]

dope.

[coderodion]

TODO: Study hard the TMs.

[rverdelli]

THIS IS WONDERFUL OMG

[FortNikitaBullion]

I like the subject to availability!

[petuliiik]

this is infinitely amazing :D

[Stotinkah]

That is SOOOO COOOOL

[McHunt7]

Hmmm

[eabod]

What have you computed with it?

[sourkraut45]

What song is that?

[wqtpuu]

@sourkraut45 i dont know it's name, but it's the a-team theme song. search for "a team"

[pisbull]

@sourkraut45 the A-team OST

[MyManDan]

ridiculously cool

[JeremyBanks89]

I really like your design; very simple/elegant.

[mounirorfi]

truly awesome :D

[keybladejon]

Haha, this is truly epic.

My prof linked this to our class!

Now thats sweet

[Krakatur25]

Thats really cool :) But what if it writes " " ?:) You have nothing to take it out, so cant really complete any code, oh well, very nice still :)

[andnissen]

@Krakatur25 Actually, we can use an arbitrary number of bits (LEGO blocks) to encode each cell. In the video we use a cell-size of two bits, meaning that we have 00, 01, 10 and 11 available. As such, we can choose that the empty cell is encoded by 00, and true is 01, false 10 and still have 11 available as additional data.

[Madmonkeythegreat]

nice use of music and windows movie maker :D

[joebebus]

Does that GUI (2:11) happen to be based of GNOME for Linux??? It doesn't look like Windows and it sure looks like my desktop...

[dobysirius]

@joebus: The GUI looks like Java swing to me. The window manager could be anything really, they are so themeable it's hard to tell.

[Zorlin0]

@joebebus It's actually Java's rendering system. It could be Linux, Windows or OS X.

[Zorlin0]

@joebebus Windowing system, rather.

[Baraquiel62]

JUST BORING WHATS THE POINT.

[carcinogen20]

I'll take twenty

[bigdestroyingrobot]

well yeah,its an xt its all ready usb connection lol i have 1 :D

[calvinthedestroyer]

I gave you a 5 star rating just for the editing :)

Can I get this as a USB device?

[conoba]

How turing complete.

[Houshalter]

awesome, just awesome.

[Ormaaj]

plox gib infinite tape.

[MrFair]

Damn, this is so cool on so many levels :D

[ghx31]

how geek and nerd could you be!!the one called "qwertyqwerty" wins i think... omg =/

[d3LuXe3825]

good work :)

[bubinasuit]

Does your Turing machine have 3 symbols? And if so, what does your transition table look like?

[qwertywerty42]

cool! you made that all by youself or did you do it with a group?

[drekamschu]

read the description.

[LeoStorm85]

where I can buy it? I want to gift one to my girlfriend

[eandreani]

incredible!!!!!!!!!!

[goauld88]

AWESOME

[Pondenome]

Finally!

[agathon23]

wie geil :))))

[mazaltow]

is there also a nondeterministic version availiable?

[helgesdk]

With infinite tape you can just simulate one :)

[chopstickSH]

I'm afraid you can't even build them in LEGO - tried it myself ;-)

[RealPartyBoi]

HAHA nice one ^^

[abcq13]

@mazaltow Don't be stupid, how can a LEGO object branch into a computation tree?

[PimiPetty]

very cool!

[mydimle]

Respect!

[LuciusMare]

GENIAL!

[gobsorc]

yeah dude ! awesome

[bielcouto]

awesome

[spinatnatter]

epic win

[Qbranch1024]

lol I love how it's a turing machine... with bluetooth.

great idea, build, software, robot. also a great example of how carried away sim/emulators can get sometime...

-ECE Illinois

[thelittlearmadillo]

i think turing would be very proud :D

[bedeone]

Nice machine, only it's a pity that you have to use advanced electronics to replicate a turing machine ;>

[Jonkata89]

hah nice

[bharatram]

i want one!!

can i really order one?

[chopstickSH]

good luck man

[kyravamp]

that's fun

[mdnowack]

Can you boot linux on it?

[fasteez]

uber idea

uber video

[coderodion]

- Infinite tape*

- Infinite storage*

- Unlimited computability*

* Subject to availability.

I rolled.

[Srlancelot39]

@coderodion I lolled

[DuckiePhatt]

i dont get it.

[grahamwebb2000]

Excellent, but how much computing power is required to operate this 'Turing machine'? lol

[slitor]

HiHiHi

It is kinda redundant.

[BrenBottini]

Very creative! Congratulations!

[bluesrunthegame]

What instruction set do you use? If I'm interpreting the action correctly it's quite a bit more complex than brainfuck.

[vasavage]

I <3 this a lot

[ManWich87]

Haha! Cool idea! :D

[squeege421]

I agree with deckmar. Awesome project, and a very well put together video.

[deckmar]

Amazing work - both the robot and the video :)

[cube11235]

Excellent! =D

[AshMangus]

This is super cool! :)

[thekkl]

I wish I could be that cool.

[bendaniel81]

Dude, that is awesome! Also love the theme music.

[AbsolIX]

WOW!! :D I'll have 3!!

but it looks like the tape alphabet has only one simbol, besides the blank space ¿or the colors of the blocks counts as diferente simbos? :0

[juaneco1980]

i think the position of the block tells u if it's either 1 or 0 (left or right). see "writing" at 1:00. I wonder how do you program that machine tho, It would be cool if the program is made out of legos too.

[ASherbuck84]

It's been a while but wouldn't the blocks need to represent 3 positions?

1, 0 and none?

[juaneco1980]

well i guess none could be at the center so it touches both sensors but can't you make a turing machine with only 1s and 0s?

[pipedreambomb]

@ASherbuck84 You can build a turing machine for any input alphabet, and in this case that is 1 and 0. 1, 0 and none (say, B for blank?) would be another. I think!

[BokuGaJ]

it can represent as lot signs as you want, the alphabet just has to be finite

[pipedreambomb]

@juaneco1980 Wouldn't be too hard, you just need different configurations of blocks representing states, symbols and L/R directions

[asifexisted]

can I run the original LS-Larry games on this? :)

[IHaveAlotOfToys]

hot lego machine reads and writes on couch with my sister! what????

[cselph]

I'm impressed. and very amused. theory of computation is awesome.

[IkariTheWraith]

I might be missing something, but given that this device has only 2 sensors, wouldn't it mean that this Turing machine can only read/write languages with binary alphabets?

[IkariTheWraith]

Nevermind, I just saw the "number of bits per cell" field.

[k3rn3lpanic]

This is really awesome! And very nerdy - which is meant as a compliment :)

[paulxshen]

CS theory :) painful, but interesting lol

[ueberRegenbogen]

You forgot to mention that it can emulate any computer! ;D

[mazzingafra]

that's actually in the statement of "infinite computability" :)

[Schifty1988]

richtig geil!

[GraysonFox]

Holy shit ... Thats impressive. You should have used the Mc Gyver Soundtrack instead :)

[ssgosh]

hahahahahaha

[dimituri]

oh wow.

i want one!

[theonly1daniel1]

wierd kinda dumb but i would buy it, its lego

[Tyoda2712]

I'd buy it!

[horvath987]

its from the tarran theme #1 like halfway through the song

[horvath987]

Does this song remind you of the starcraft tarren song?? or is it just me?

[SpacePopeIII]

It's the A team -.-

[ShadowHero2009]

Dude...how the heck did you get Starcraft?

[horvath987]

from 00:36

I hear a bit