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Mekaniskt Is Table-Sized Robotic Tetris, Needs Disintegrator Ray
Posted by Jesus Diaz at 5:23 AM on January 19, 2008
The Mekaniskt is a robotic Tetris, an arm that can suck pieces, moving and rotating them to make the perfectly fit in place using Nintendo NES-like controls. The only problem: the lines don't disappear.
This problem begs for some kind of ACME disintegration ray to be installed at the bottom (or like some readers say, a conveyor belt. We like deadly rays better, though.) In any case, it comes straight from Sweden, the Nordic lands of Europe where Earth is ruled by blue-eyed Valkyries and vodka and salmon is the breakfast of the champions, so even if it wasn't cool—which it is—that's enough reason to talk about it. Discuss. [YouTube - The video was heavily edited from the original one. Thanks Scott!]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
evan394
Posted 6:06 AM 19/1/08
Cewl. Lazer sensor to read the lines after each piece is placed to see if you've completed a horizontal line could control the affore-mentioned conveyor, then some cool bowling lane contraption to orient the pieces for the arm to pick up again at random. And top it off with some sort of mechanical musical instrument to play the music using real instruments. then feed it to the steampunk guy == internet triple platinum dopeness
fuh sho
evan394
Netscott
Posted 6:06 AM 19/1/08
A conveyor belt would be a kludge. A gridded table with trap door rows and abelt drive to push down upper bricks to newly liberated rows would be the optimal (read practical) solution for a more authentic experience.
-Scott (the "thanked" one :-)
Netscott
moosetoga
Posted 6:06 AM 19/1/08
You'd have to make the bricks out of individual squares, each as wide and high as a single line. Then I'd use magnets under a table to move them, and the magnets would slide an entire line out when it was complete.
moosetoga
rtwod2
Posted 6:06 AM 19/1/08
Heh...I guess I spent too much time reflecting upon Sweden to notice Luke's comment. HT to you, sir!
rtwod2
rtwod2
Posted 6:06 AM 19/1/08
mmmm...Sweden....spent some quality time there a few years ago.....Valkyries indeed! swoon!
A simple solution would be to make the table surface a conveyor belt that would drop the shapes to a bin to be replaced on the board.
rtwod2
wayno007
Posted 6:06 AM 19/1/08
Maybe a radial arm saw?
wayno007
Pinguin_
Posted 6:06 AM 19/1/08
When they make Asteroids call me.
Pinguin_
Lukewpnunn
Posted 6:06 AM 19/1/08
Just add a conveyor belt - no disintegration required!
Lukewpnunn
Jeyl
Posted 6:06 AM 19/1/08
Nice rendition. I'd play it!
Jeyl
moosetoga
Posted 7:06 AM 19/1/08
@m4ximusprim3: Yeah, the technology's all in existence, certainly. It's just a matter of finding a big enough nerd with a big enough wallet.
moosetoga
m4ximusprim3
Posted 7:06 AM 19/1/08
hooray for armchair engineering!
m4ximusprim3
m4ximusprim3
Posted 7:06 AM 19/1/08
Just to continue that thought- you'd need a 3x2 magnetic array under the table to move the pieces and an arm on top to arrange the newly made blocks from the "recycle bin".
The array moves the pieces and slides completed rows over and uncompleted rows above the empty row down.
It would seem to be kinda "easy" to add to what they've already got. At least, from a conceptual standpoint. Not that I could do it, but i'm sure someone could.
m4ximusprim3
moosetoga
Posted 7:06 AM 19/1/08
@m4ximusprim3: Simple: RFID tags.
And by "simple," I mean "something I could never, ever engineer on my own."
moosetoga
m4ximusprim3
Posted 7:06 AM 19/1/08
@moosetoga: You totally win. The only problem would be training the machine to only use the correctly colored blocks when re-assembling the pieces to drop again. Maybe a suction arm with a color sensing eye on the secondary table where the completed lines go? Then it would be totally autonomous.
m4ximusprim3
dambo29
Posted 7:06 AM 19/1/08
It would also be cooler if the arm would randomly pick the pieces from a bucket rather than a guy putting them on the table...
dambo29
sumosamkawasaki
Posted 7:06 AM 19/1/08
this thing is so slow
its like tetris for my grandma
sumosamkawasaki
Bokusatsu_Tenshi
Posted 8:09 AM 19/1/08
Did someone on the comment list NOT try to figure a way to perfect this? :P
I say, nice job. We all still dream of a perfect mechanical tetris rendition though...
My (imaginary) version uses individual blocks, moving plates (to erase a line for instance, and to control the block dropping) and trully vertical stand.
Mechanical arm to drop random blocks.
Would need something to move the blocks sideways though.
Need to figure a way of making it cheaper.
Bokusatsu_Tenshi
knirfie
Posted 8:09 AM 19/1/08
That looks like it could be done much better then that.
knirfie
Vagabum
Posted 8:09 AM 19/1/08
If only they could have used their big brains for the sake of greater mankind.
Vagabum
Shai
Posted 11:06 AM 19/1/08
Nice to see a PLC make its way onto Gizmodo. I wonder if that was all done in ladder logic.
ControlLogix FTW!
Shai
wecanfreakit
Posted 8:54 PM 18/1/08
Lord Vader: "That means no disintegration...on the Robotic Tetris Table"
Boba Fett: "As you wish..."
wecanfreakit
supercrap
Posted 3:21 PM 19/1/08
The other problem besides the disintegration...how do the pieces keep materializing at the top? And how is it difficult or fun to play if they don't keep falling?
supercrap
lian
Posted 10:09 AM 19/1/08
Let me make some corrections, this tetris game was not made in Sweden, but in Norway at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology at the Institute of Product Design. It was made as a project in a mechatronics class. We were four students working together on this, three of us design students and one art student. I am, as one of the creators of this proud of the result considering the limited resources and time we had available, we simply did not have time or materials to make lines dissapear and random automatic brick feeding.
By the way, the programming is done by ladder diagram and it really was a pain making figuring it out :)
Nice to see that people like our tetris :)
lian