A Computer made of Lego? | Mechanical Logic

Hi,
finally, I found a way to connect Lego with informatics :) This is a collection of concepts for a mechanical computer made of Lego Technic. You could even theoretically build a computer with that, but you'd need an environment without friction, bending and "wiggle"-room.
Enjoy watching,
2in1

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Links:
Rebrickable (part list and .io file):
3D viewer for building:

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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:06 Explanation
0:12 NOT-Gate
1:21 AND-Gate
4:14 OR-Gate
5:25 XOR-Gate
6:51 Thanks for watching!

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#lego #technic #mechanism #gearbox #computer #mechanical #logic

[in]

I just got back from vacation 5 hours ago and then made the whole video, so the quality is a bit lower than usual. I hope you enjoy anyways :)

[StreamlinersCinema]

For these designs, yes "you'd need an environment without friction, bending and 'wiggle'-room". To overcome this, one would need to find a way to input energy into this system (this is how transistor-based computers work -- quantum is a bit weirder). If you could make a buffer that drives the output with more force than was needed to drive the input, then we might be in business!

[gary]

This is fascinating! Maybe try to enhance the rigidity of the structure and make the i/o more visible. Amazing idea on mechanical logic circuits overall and i’m pretty sure you are the first to build it in lego.

[benuh]

For people who doesn't understand: these are the same logic gates used by your ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) in your CPU which is in your computer/device.

[Tomab]

Puts a new meaning to _bricking the computer_

[-bit]

This is the only channel that youtube reccommends me vids an hour after uploading off

[johanrosenberg]

I think there was a Knex computer, and Nico71 made a replica of a toy computer. And that's just toys, people have also built computers using hydraulics, steam-engines, biology as well as several other technologies. And really computers can be a lot simpler than some people may think. There's a great book/course on it called something like "NAND to Tetris" I think? It does a really great job of bridging the gap between these basic principles and modern computing.

That said, it's not everyday you see a video on Lego logic gates so kudos for that!

[headrockbeats]

Just to put things into perspective: A modern CPU made of these would be around 15 kilometers on each side.

[lucienwerner]

Great video as always. You’re One of my favourite Lego channels.
Very cool idea, Using the Boolean language.

[Renault_-MX]

As you were building the OR gate, i had the thought of using NOT gates and a AND gate to make a OR gate.

Just put NOT gates on the I/O of the AND gate and you have a OR gate.
This could also work the reverse on OR gates to make AND gates

[Ekipsogel]

What I did for a XOR gate was two gear racks driving either side of a differential and the differential drove an eccentric mechanism so when you push one gear rack it turns the diff independently of the other gear rack and when you turn the eccentric mechanism 180 degrees it pushes out, and 360 degrees pulls it back in, assuming each gear rack turns it 180 degrees.

[STA-]

Honestly i think working with gears is easier since you can make a transistor out of 3 gears (the input, a movable one and the output.) The input must be spinning (represents the current in a transistor)
So if you move the middle gear in-between the in- and output gear, it should work.

[exatechnic]

Now that's a unique build, first time that I see one. Well done, very creative !

[nathanpyle]

This is so cool!! I was quite interested in this, but then hit a wall after I couldn't quite get it to work. Your mechanisms are very very cool and I might have to take some inspiration... :)

[TheXeneco]

Cool, very cool. Not sure if the same holds true now, but when I was at school in the ‘90s it was cheaper in the semi-conductor world to make NAND gates, and every other gate was made from a combination of NANDs. It would be very interesting to see that makes out of Lego too!! :)

[dr.kujojotaro]

Y’know the graphics are gonna be *amazing.*

[kajin]

This is so cool. Now you need to make a calculator from lego.

[perreson]

I have no idea what’s going on but I like it, nice video!

[straizer]

I'm waiting for you to build full PC (with CPU, RAM, registers, etc.) like people in Minecraft do!

[purplepotato]

This is amazing! I've been trying to build a simple Lego binary calculator and I think you might have just helped me big time! (again) thanks!