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As 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.
Make it analog all the way by hooking it up directly to a lathe or milling machine.
In 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…
I also learned heaps! (Including after a few weeks when the circuit stopped working properly because one of the relays started to work just a little slower than another one, heh.) If anyone's interested, https://blog.qiqitori.com/2024/08/implementing-tennis-for-tw...
There’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. [0] https://youtube.com/@MoritzKlein0/videos
In 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…
> 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. Do you think about the analog qualities of your traces when laying things out? If so then the course was well taken. In my observations I've found that too many digital engineers assume a differe…
In 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…
Hey, I made something like this a couple months ago! (Except it's more like "Tennis for Two", so you also hit the ball in the X direction, and there's another button to hit it back in the other. I didn't have any space or potentiometers left to set the gravity, but it wouldn't be difficult.) I also learned heaps! (Including after a few weeks when the circuit stopped working properly because one of the relays started…
It's a cute toy and a fun educational tool, but "computing for the future" seems like a bit of an overstatement.
I think they're saying analog computers could be the future of computing. Veritasium explains it really well in general here (and demos the device) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVsUOuSjvcg
In what concrete problems do you (or Veritasium) think analog computing could beat a GPU?
There’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.
With synthesizers you think mostly in the frequency domain and speed is more important than accuracy. Integrators from AC become lowpass filters, adders become mixers*, multipliers become ring modulators, etc.
* In audio, a "mixer" is an adder. In RF a mixer is a multiplier.
There’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. [0] https://youtube.com/@MoritzKlein0/videos
It's a cute toy and a fun educational tool, but "computing for the future" seems like a bit of an overstatement.
It’s unlikely to replace digital computers, but it might find a new specialized home in components.
As 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.