[HN Gopher] Working Turing Machine
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       Working Turing Machine
        
       Author : ludovicianul
       Score  : 242 points
       Date   : 2024-09-24 06:12 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (ideas.lego.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (ideas.lego.com)
        
       | fifilura wrote:
       | When I was a child, the dream build was the programmable crane
       | from the 8888 Lego Ideas book.
       | 
       | https://rebrickable.com/blog/685/classic-review-technic-idea...
       | 
       | Alas, I did not have enough gear racks to program it.
       | 
       | Thanks to bricklink I eventually got my revenge when I got my own
       | kids.
       | 
       | In general a fantastic book.
        
         | jrmg wrote:
         | I loved reading this! Brought back a lot of memories. Thanks
         | for posting.
        
           | fifilura wrote:
           | I remember getting help from my grandfather sending a mail to
           | Denmark complaining that the rubber bands in some model
           | broke, and they were not easily replaceable with regular
           | rubber bands.
           | 
           | So I got a reply back with some new rubber bands along with
           | this book.
           | 
           | The excavator on the front page was possible to build with my
           | bricks and also a good build.
        
       | NeoTar wrote:
       | This feel like a model which should benefit when the limit for
       | LEGO ideas is increased from 3000 to 5000 pieces.
       | 
       | https://brickset.com/article/113876/lego-ideas-maximum-part-...
        
       | _ache_ wrote:
       | A small size version of Rubens !
       | 
       | http://rubens.ens-lyon.fr/fr/videos/
        
         | tromp wrote:
         | Indeed they improved the tape cell size by an order of
         | magnitude, to be about the minimum possible.
        
       | Stem0037 wrote:
       | One concern: Given the complexity, I wonder if this might be too
       | niche for a mainstream LEGO release. Maybe it would work better
       | as a specialized educational set?
        
       | cosmolev wrote:
       | Can't wait to see DOOM running on this one!
        
         | layer8 wrote:
         | You'll have to wait (and crank) quite a bit for the first frame
         | to be output though.
        
           | kmoser wrote:
           | Just build it in Roblox and let it run by itself!
        
           | sonofhans wrote:
           | Boy, that's some "Towers of Hanoi" business, isn't it?
           | Imagine a monastic group dedicated to this. "Our goal is to
           | use the Lego Turing Machine to render all frames from John
           | Romero's speedrun of Doom level 1. And then the universe will
           | end."
        
         | jekude wrote:
         | Built a working implementation in Go [0] a while ago, have
         | always wanted to hook up DOOM to it.
         | 
         | [0] https://github.com/planetlambert/turing
        
       | jekude wrote:
       | Does it come with UTM on the tape?
        
       | red_admiral wrote:
       | It works fine, but I don't want to be turning that lever by hand
       | forever - have they made sure that it halts at some point?
       | 
       | EDIT1:
       | 
       | "Won't there be a problem with Intellectual Property? No, the
       | Turing machine is a mathematical model and has no Intellectual
       | Property :)"
       | 
       | I love this kind of comment.
        
         | ZiiS wrote:
         | No; https://www.jstor.org/stable/2371045?origin=crossref
        
           | theideaofcoffee wrote:
           | Whoosh! It was a joke.
        
           | volemo wrote:
           | Yes; Turing Machine with finite tape can be simulated by a
           | deterministic finite automaton, and we _know_ if those halt
           | or not.
        
             | YesThatTom2 wrote:
             | If it supported an infinite tape, that would get me closer
             | to my dream of owning an infinite number of legos!
             | 
             | I love it!
        
             | FartyMcFarter wrote:
             | > Yes;
             | 
             | The question was "have they made sure that it halts at some
             | point?"
             | 
             | The answer cannot be yes, since some machines never halt.
        
       | ape4 wrote:
       | (probably explained somewhere but I didn't see it) Is all the
       | logic done with Lego gears!?
        
         | red_admiral wrote:
         | Looks like it (as well as Lego bricks, pins etc.). Apparently
         | Lego is Turing-complete.
        
           | yreg wrote:
           | That's a bit like saying wood is turing-complete.
        
       | gwbas1c wrote:
       | Meh. Wake me up when it's done booting Linux.
       | 
       | (Joke)
       | 
       | This is awesome!
        
         | Affric wrote:
         | RIP.
         | 
         | Thank god addressable memory.
        
       | xg15 wrote:
       | OT: I find it interesting that the Technic branch of Lego seems
       | to increasingly separate itself from the rest of the franchise,
       | design-wise - to the point they got rid of the actual bricks!
       | 
       | In older models, there used to be the occasional "flying" section
       | that was built exclusively out of axles, beams and linkages, but
       | the main support structures were still mostly made out of
       | "traditional" Lego bricks (albeit with holes in them).
       | 
       | With recent models, they seem to have made the "flying" style the
       | norm and the standard bricks the exception.
       | 
       | I wonder if this is some indication of Technic becoming its own
       | thing independent of Lego.
       | 
       | (I only noticed the design changes, I have no idea if there are
       | some company politics behind it - but if there is more
       | information I'd be interested to know)
        
       | cobbaut wrote:
       | Is that a 3D printed Lego gear at 12'40" in the video?
        
         | xg15 wrote:
         | Can you post a screenshot? I don't see anything, but I don't
         | think that player let's me find the correct location either...
        
           | cobbaut wrote:
           | In front of the middle finger: http://herrdebby.netsec.be/3d_
           | lego_Screenshot_2024-09-26_14-...
        
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       (page generated 2024-09-26 23:02 UTC)