Meccano Programmable Mechanical Sequencer (HD video)

Tim Robinson's Programmable Mechanical Sequencer, built entirely from Meccano, is a modular part of Babbage's Analytical Engine. It was shown at the New Zealand Meccano Exhibition 2009, held in Christchurch.

Click on the HD icon at the bottom right to view this in HD.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• meccano
• programmable
• mechanical
• sequencer
• tim
• robinson
• babbage
• computer
• christchurch
• nzmeccano
• HD

[Spacekriek]

Watching that mechanism will remind one of an electromechanical telephone exchange, if you ever had the opportunity to work in one.

[SailorBarsoom]

dah-dah, dah-dah, dah-dah, dah-dah-dah... dah-dah

dah-dah, dah-dah, dah-dah, dah-dah-dah...  dah-dah

dah-dah, dah-dah, dah-dah, dah-dah-dah... dah-dah

You could almost dance to it.

[MaGaO]

@utubekojitakeo AFAIK, the reason for developing nanomechanisms is that, currently, the control system is already as small as it can be but the mechanisms aren't. So they want to bring their size down, and the way they know to do it is using the same techniques used for chip making.

It has nothing to do with limits to digital technology: since the techniques are the same, the limits are the same. And electronics are faster even at that scale.

[rubikbrewer]

Somehow everyone here has completely misunderstood NathanBackwoods original comment. He never said anything about the "Reliability" of mechanical computers. He referred only to "Trust". You can trust that it will not be prone to virus, or mutate into something else. I too love a computer that can not evolve to take over the world.

So, next time pay attention to what you are reading. And way to go Tim!! Keep up the awesome work in the Meccano world! All I had was Capsela and TinkerToys.

[utubekojitakeo]

@entelin You are hilariously misinformed, not only are mechanical computers practically non-existant outside of hobby and research (making your reliability claim completely null and void), but there is much research in implementing nano scale mechanical components in future computer chips to get around the blocks on advancing digital technology. Why would there be so much discussion of incorporating these mechanical technologies within existing digital technology if they were less reliable?

[entelin]

@NathansBackwoods Digital computers are *far* *FAR* more reliable than mechanical computers. Sophisticated mechanical computers are very prone to malfunction / jamming / breaking. Things that need to move are inherently prone to having issues, materials flex, wear down, and change their properties slowly over time. Trying to build one that is at all reliable is most of the design challenge.

[TreyRust]

@NathansBackwoods not really, they feel more reliable, but they are just as likely to break as something with transistors...

this is more reliable for the application than say, windows, though...

[NathansBackwoods]

I love mechanical computers, you can trust them more.

[Spiritplumber]

Holy cookies!

[Srlancelot39]

truly amazing