[HN Gopher] The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
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The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future
Author : cgeier
Score : 52 points
Date : 2024-11-19 17:09 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (the-analog-thing.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (the-analog-thing.org)
| szvsw wrote:
| There's no better introduction to signals and systems than a
| modular synthesizer IMO - the combination of tactility and
| audibility for multi-sensory learning is so great at building
| intuition - and more importantly, excitement! - for signal
| processing.
|
| This looks like a cool project in the same spirit!
| omani wrote:
| I agree. I highly recommend [0] Moritz Klein's channel. amazing
| explanations and learning effect.
|
| [0] https://youtube.com/@MoritzKlein0/videos
| ObscureScience wrote:
| Cool, I was thinking about the other way around, using an
| analog computer to build synthesizers.
| youngtaff wrote:
| This fella is using it as part of his music making
| https://www.instagram.com/stephano.music/
| Ductapemaster wrote:
| In my upper-division analog electronics class (the hard one), our
| lab project throughout the quarter was to build an analog
| computer that simulated the physics of a bouncing ball. Physical
| variables of the system were adjustable (gravity constant,
| coefficient of restitution, etc), and the ball was "released" by
| pressing a button. The output was viewed on an oscilloscope.
|
| One of the hardest 10 weeks of my life, but also one of the most
| rewarding. Our team was one of the few that actually got it
| working in the end. I had to custom-make a gigantic breadboard to
| hold the entire circuit.
|
| Today I still work in hardware, but mostly with digital circuits.
| While my analog knowledge has decayed over the last decade, that
| project and it's success gives me great confidence any time I
| have to deal with the domain.
|
| If you want to take a look, here's a pretty similar project:
| https://www.analogmuseum.org/english/examples/bouncing_ball_...
| klysm wrote:
| Did the mathematical model being used have a differentiable
| heigh function? I'm imagining it would be the simplest if it
| didn't but that could cause problems in the electronics.
|
| Also what components did you have access to, just op amps?
| Ductapemaster wrote:
| Just op-amps and FETs for the active components. The design
| from my memory was:
|
| - To get position, 2 integrators were applied to an
| adjustable voltage representing gravity.
|
| - The FETs were used to set initial states of the
| integrators.
|
| - A comparator used to detect the table (y=0), flip the
| velocity and apply a scaling factor for restitution
|
| The math was actually quite simple given its just the
| standard velocity equations -- the challenge was in handling
| state changes in the electronics.
|
| I looked around a little more and this video is a very close
| replica of what we built:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt6RVrmvh-o
| leeter wrote:
| > Today I still work in hardware, but mostly with digital
| circuits. While my analog knowledge has decayed over the last
| decade, that project and it's success gives me great confidence
| any time I have to deal with the domain.
|
| Do you think about the analog qualities of your traces when
| laying things out? If so then the course was well taken.
|
| In my observations I've found that too many digital engineers
| assume a differential pair will save them without actually
| fixing the impedance and parasitic issues. Particularly as the
| timings of things become so much more precise analog is so
| important. People forget that a digital circuit is just an
| analog one under the covers.
| djcooley wrote:
| My version of this was a 10-week discrete RF circuits course in
| graduate school. We had to build a fully functional GHz
| transceiver out of small FR4 PCBs (< quarter wavelength) and
| throw-away leaded BJT transistors. Neither were suitable for
| GHz circuits, so the course was hard by design. I learned so
| much and developed an intuition for electromagnetics that I
| still carry 20 years later.
| daft_pink wrote:
| is it possible to buy this thing in the USA (no vat)
| fidotron wrote:
| As a different sort of analog computer, I have long been
| wondering about a "compiler" for fluidic logic that can output
| devices you could 3D print which would then operate on pneumatic
| or hydraulic signals. Probably entirely useless, but wouldn't be
| affected by an EMP!
|
| That idea was shamelessly inspired by the soft fluidic robot some
| years back.
| InitialLastName wrote:
| > wouldn't be affected by an EMP!
|
| Even better, it would only be affected by relatively rare
| phenomena, such as vibration, temperature change, orientation
| and rotation.
| Animats wrote:
| Something like that is inside some automatic transmissions.
|
| Sperry UNIVAC once built a 4-bit fluidic ALU as a demo, but it
| was useless.
| lagrange77 wrote:
| I've ordered one last holidays and haven't had the time to use it
| yet. Unfortunately it doesn't fit in the famous dev board drawer.
| SoftTalker wrote:
| Prior discussion:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36165513 (2023)
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28614840 (2021)
| zachbee wrote:
| It's a cute toy and a fun educational tool, but "computing for
| the future" seems like a bit of an overstatement.
| sushid wrote:
| I think they're saying analog computers could be the future of
| computing.
|
| Veritasium explains it really well in general here (and demos
| the device) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVsUOuSjvcg
| Animats wrote:
| A built-in scope display would be nice. Like this $10 module.[1]
| Then you could use this standalone. They charge EUR 499 for the
| thing, after all.
|
| The way you usually run an analog computer is to put it into fast
| repeat mode (which they call REPF), where it cycles between
| initial condition mode and run mode. Outputs go to a scope. Then
| you can twiddle the knobs and see the output respond immediately.
|
| The other modes are used mostly during setup and debug.
|
| Hours of fun. Ages 14 and up.
|
| [1] https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/YIXINTAI-
| DSO138-Digit...
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