#electromechanical

I'd probably love visiting and I'd enjoy myself while I am there! Who knows.. I may even feel inspired by different elements and might want to buy an antique or two haha 😅💜

The Fujitsu FACOM 128B computer from 1958. This was a relay-based machine, with a 69 bit word size.

We're testing out an I2C-to-solenoid driver today. It uses an MCP23017 expander. We like this particular chip for this usage because it has push-pull outputs, making it ideal for driving our N-channel FETs and flyback diodes. The A port connects to the 8 drivers, while the B port remains available for other GPIO purposes. For this demo, whenever we 'touch' a pin on port B to ground, the corresponding solenoid triggers provide an easy way to check speed and power usage.

🎮🕹️👾 electromechanical dreams ✨🌌🌙

"Mechanical Rat" maze solver (1935), by Thomas Ross, and Stevenson Smith, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. "As If endowed with powers of reasoning, a mechanical 'rat' devised by Dr. Stevenson Smith, University of Washington psychologist, threads its way through an artificial maze like those used to study the behavior of living rats. The three-wheeled, electric-powered device moves along a grooved path that divides at several points, obliging the 'rat' to choose which direction to follow. If it takes the wrong turn and enters a blind alley, mechanical feelers cause it to halt, retrace its journey, and try again until the whole course is negotiated successfully. The odd model is designed to show how automatic reflexes differ from thinking processes." – MECHANICAL RAT FINDS WAY IN MAZE, Popular Science, Nov 1935, p18.

really fascinating stuff, the 729 is such a beautiful example of "brute force to make up for a lack of fine control". there wasn't a viable way, in the 1950s, to rapidly turn on and off the power to the forwards and backwards motors without breaking the tape in the process... so IBM simply the ran forwards and backwards motors continuously and just engaged them selectively, using an electromagnet whose natural ramp-up made the changes in speed smooth enough not to break the tape

Them.

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