The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
the-analog-thing.org
The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
1–10 of 32 posts
Re: The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
#2There’s no better introduction to signals and systems than a modular synthesizer IMO - the combination of tactility and audibility for multi-sensory learning is so great at building intuition - and more importantly, excitement! - for signal processing.
This looks like a cool project in the same spirit!
Re: The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
#3In my upper-division analog electronics class (the hard one), our lab project throughout the quarter was to build an analog computer that simulated the physics of a bouncing ball. Physical variables of the system were adjustable (gravity constant, coefficient of restitution, etc), and the ball was "released" by pressing a button. The output was viewed on an oscilloscope.
One of the hardest 10 weeks of my life, but also one of the most rewarding. Our team was one of the few that actually got it working in the end. I had to custom-make a gigantic breadboard to hold the entire circuit.
Today I still work in hardware, but mostly with digital circuits. While my analog knowledge has decayed over the last decade, that project and it's success gives me great confidence any time I have to deal with the domain.
If you want to take a look, here's a pretty similar project: https://www.analogmuseum.org/english/examples/bouncing_ball_...
Re: The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
#4There’s no better introduction to signals and systems than a modular synthesizer IMO - the combination of tactility and audibility for multi-sensory learning is so great at building intuition - and more importantly, excitement! - for signal processing. This looks like a cool project in the same spirit!
I agree. I highly recommend [0] Moritz Klein's channel. amazing explanations and learning effect.
Re: The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
#5is it possible to buy this thing in the USA (no vat)
Re: The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
#6There’s no better introduction to signals and systems than a modular synthesizer IMO - the combination of tactility and audibility for multi-sensory learning is so great at building intuition - and more importantly, excitement! - for signal processing. This looks like a cool project in the same spirit!
Cool, I was thinking about the other way around, using an analog computer to build synthesizers.
Re: The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
#7In my upper-division analog electronics class (the hard one), our lab project throughout the quarter was to build an analog computer that simulated the physics of a bouncing ball. Physical variables of the system were adjustable (gravity constant, coefficient of restitution, etc), and the ball was "released" by pressing a button. The output was viewed on an oscilloscope. One of the hardest 10 weeks of my life, but al…
Did the mathematical model being used have a differentiable heigh function? I’m imagining it would be the simplest if it didn’t but that could cause problems in the electronics.
Also what components did you have access to, just op amps?
Re: The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
#8As a different sort of analog computer, I have long been wondering about a “compiler” for fluidic logic that can output devices you could 3D print which would then operate on pneumatic or hydraulic signals. Probably entirely useless, but wouldn’t be affected by an EMP!
That idea was shamelessly inspired by the soft fluidic robot some years back.
Re: The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
#9In my upper-division analog electronics class (the hard one), our lab project throughout the quarter was to build an analog computer that simulated the physics of a bouncing ball. Physical variables of the system were adjustable (gravity constant, coefficient of restitution, etc), and the ball was "released" by pressing a button. The output was viewed on an oscilloscope. One of the hardest 10 weeks of my life, but al…
Did the mathematical model being used have a differentiable heigh function? I’m imagining it would be the simplest if it didn’t but that could cause problems in the electronics. Also what components did you have access to, just op amps?
Just op-amps and FETs for the active components. The design from my memory was:
- To get position, 2 integrators were applied to an adjustable voltage representing gravity.
- The FETs were used to set initial states of the integrators.
- A comparator used to detect the table (y=0), flip the velocity and apply a scaling factor for restitution
The math was actually quite simple given its just the standard velocity equations — the challenge was in handling state changes in the electronics.
I looked around a little more and this video is a very close replica of what we built: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt6RVrmvh-o
Re: The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
#10As a different sort of analog computer, I have long been wondering about a “compiler” for fluidic logic that can output devices you could 3D print which would then operate on pneumatic or hydraulic signals. Probably entirely useless, but wouldn’t be affected by an EMP! That idea was shamelessly inspired by the soft fluidic robot some years back.
> wouldn’t be affected by an EMP!
Even better, it would only be affected by relatively rare phenomena, such as vibration, temperature change, orientation and rotation.