Hi Non-Twisty Puzzles fans,
PRBS Generator is a piece of kinetic art that mechanically generates a Pseudo-Random Binary Sequence (PRBS). When I learned about PRBS at my university, I designed a mechanism for it on 10 January 1987. The mechanism was as simple as the algorithm to generate a PRBS. It uses a shift register, where a new bit is the exclusive OR (XOR) of two earlier bits. I implemented this mechanism 37 years later, where the shift register is a set of seven “bits” on a rotating disk. At one point, a bit flips when its neighbour is “0”, whereas it stays the same when the neighbour is “1”. The flipping is pushed by gears at the bottom of a bit. The flipping is blocked when the neighbour is in its “1” state. Then the magnets decouple the rotation of the gear from the bit. The mechanism cycles through 127 different seven-bit sequences, only skipping the “1111111” sequence.
Watch the YouTube video.
Buy the puzzle at my iMaterialise Shop.
Read more at the Non-Twisty Puzzles Forum.
Check out the photos below.
Enjoy!
Oskar
