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LEGO Difference Engine

acarol.woz.org — Here's a fully-working three-digit Difference Engine (made famous by Charles Babbage) built entirely out of LEGO.

Who dugg this? Made popular Feb 7, 2006

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31 Comments

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  • djscooterb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Does this thing have the FDIV bug?
  • flowaus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Is it just me or is everything made out of lego nowdays?

  • erazmus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The website is being hosted by Steve Wozniak. Maybe he's going to use the technology for some 'laptop-without-batteries' project for the third world or something.
  • linuxnut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0OLD Site, saw this on /. a long time ago but dugg because I didn't know it was Woz's. Did y'all hear the episode of TWIT where they called woz, he was in Vegas and who should also happen to be there??? Kevin Mitnick.... strange
  • kymehra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0its just you ^
  • SummySun, on 02/07/2009, -0/+0Lego is my favorite one!

    http://www.trgovinca.org
    http://www.business-business.biz
  • ricorick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Really interesting. DUGG
  • rodball, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's very nice. Next project: the Analytical Engine!
  • interknot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's really cool. I wonder how fast it is.
  • rft3rd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0there was a digg about the lego logic gates but it did not include the difference engine. That is a nice piece of work and worthy of a digg.

  • legomanland, on 03/15/2009, -0/+0Thats an amazing use of Lego! I'd never have thought of doing anything like that as a kid, having said that my website is designed and themed around lego http://www.legomanland.co.uk

  • modtho, on 06/06/2008, -0/+0How can these motors be built entirely out of LEGO - (It's not possible !!):

    http://www.used-outboard-motors.com
  • ephemerae, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0dude that's awesome. dugg.
  • Banzai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0What the .....?
  • BritOverseas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Just cuz it's the first comp, Dugg, but dude, has this guy got too much time on his hands or WHAT!!!
  • aecarol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"OLD Site, saw this on /. a long time ago..."

    The web site is hardly two weeks old. Unless someone had a time machine and put it up before I built the machine. ;-)

    You probably saw Tim Robinson's Meccano (similar to Erector Set) Difference Engine.
  • djscooterb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0For those who can't read the very first line (hint, it says "by Andrew Carol"), it wasn't built by Woz ... he is just hosting the site for the creator.
  • CynicalBastard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hey the first computer!
  • motostamp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0amazing
  • holiday, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0When i was a kid i used to build stuff all the time out of Lego's... like a rocket ship, or a robot, a building, a building that turned into a robot... This I don't get. i mean why would a kid wanna play with a difference engine?
  • chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow, look at it and try to figure out how it works. This guy is smart as hell.
  • aecarol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"I would suggest though that if this guy has a few extra dollars laying around, get some fisher technical. They are expensive but they blow Lego away for these kind of projects."

    I've spent probably $1,500 in the building of the Difference Engine already. Of course, now that I know exactly what design dead-ends to avoid I could probably do it for $500.

    I'd hate to have to reinvest in Fisher Technic.

    On the other hand, I did have a small collection of Fisher Technic when I was a kid and really did like the stuff.....
  • EsotericBoredom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0As a former mech eng. student..I'm greatly impressed with both the complexity and the almost blind dedication to the completion of this project. Very cool! I would suggest though that if this guy has a few extra dollars laying around, get some fisher technical. They are expensive but they blow Lego away for these kind of projects.
  • gModo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0thats science class and a half right there
  • John184, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I almost cured cancer with Lego's but I ran out of the little (one) pieces.
  • jwade1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Im pretty sure someone already made a post about this stuff. It was a site all about how to make logic gates out of legos. I could be wrong though, it might have been something I came across through Stumble.....just to be safe though ++digg
  • mike_p, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I never considered those largers blocks to be LEGO's.... I like the small ones...

    Still pretty cool nonetheless...
  • modian, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Dugg for the Woz.
  • osrevad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Is anyone else getting this message when trying to enter a comment?:

    Upon entering a comment a magical genie appears before you. Do you:
    a) Attack with comment SPAM
    b) Wait a few mins for others to comment

    You choose b.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Nice. But can it run Linux?
  • joeydoo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Too many words, not very big engine. It shall remain diggless.

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