Stonehenge robotic clock: telling time never looked so fun
By Darren Murph 
posted Aug 4th 2008 11:28AM
posted Aug 4th 2008 11:28AM
[Via OhGizmo]
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
Be glad it doesn't have a section for seconds.
But I think a section for seconds could be done. I saw a similar machine in the Tech Museum of Innovation, in San Jose CA but simpler. You typed something and it wrote it with bricks.
With the development of robot personalities and emotional bonding (as mentioned here: http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=526&doc_id=155718&f_src=flffour ) I wonder how long it'll take for the robot to say: "screw you, I'm tired of doing this"
Very nice,
I would like to see: 1959 to 2000
Would it make all the changes within 1 min?
That transition would take around 15 minutes.
In other words FAIL.
hah yeah then it becomes self aware and starts putting up the wrong time on purpose.
Just get a sundial.
that's great! they just need to improve the speed.
Even looking at my imaginary-sarcasm-wristwatch in boredom gives me the time quicker than this... :P
That said, it's still somewhat amusing. :)
What happens at 12:59?
It skips directly to 1:01 knowing that it'll take too long to display 1:00.
@ Freakin Ijit
I just lol'ed.
Thanks.
With elegeance!
not a bad initial design... they definitely need to refine it, especially speedwise.
It's cool enough I'd pay a fiver for that to be my alarm clock.
Wait a sec? Does it have an alarm feature?
It reaches over and gives your nuts a good squeeze.
I have one of these*, so I can answer this.
Yes, It has an alarm function. It consists of grabbing your crotch. Sure, it takes 5 minutes to line everything up, but I've never slept through my alarm since.
*by 'one of these' I am referring to the video only, and not the actual clock.
Damn you, Lowest ranked! *shakes fist* my version was far superior, yet while I carefully crafting my post, you posted a quick one liner that only serves to water down my belated piece of artistry!
Seemed to work for me.
from what I hear, for an alarm it picks up one of the cards/blocks and starts whacking you till you wake up...
or until a minute passes and it has to change the time its showing. XD
By the time it tells me the time... it wont be that time anymore...
I, for one, welcome our new robot timekeeping overlords.
What if you bump the table and the numbers fall over?
Then you die in boredom watching it pick up all the numbers.
They're "attached" with magnets.
This will be the robot's comeback to humans for making it do such a lousy mundane task. Then it will realise that your favourite TV program will be about to start, upon which it will promptly knock over the numbers again.
Ahhh, sweet revenge...
Its not a clock, its a time machine. Didnt you see how we traveled back in time to 12:00 there for a few seconds! Just modify this a little and we can breach much greater time distances.
I hope nobody use this and live in a 1 room appartement. They must feel relief when they ear cars after this robotic noise for every minute change.
Dude! That was the most fun NES ROB game ever!
Good idea to pair the numbers to make changing the time quicker, but wouldn't it make more sense to pair 9 & 0, since any change from 9 means an accompanying change in another number? If it has to swap the 9 out each time, it would never even make both swaps going from 12:19 to 12:20. If it could rotate the 9 to 0, it would at least have time to make the swap from 1 to 2.
Along the same lines, it would make sense to have the minute's-ten-digit cards pair 5 & 0, the hour's-unit-digit cards pair 9 & 0, and the hour's-ten-digit card just pair 1 & 0. That way, whenever it had to change all four numbers (e.g. 09:59>10:00 & 12:59>01:00), it would only have to make 4 flips, rather than 3 swaps and a flip, and it may actually have a chance at making the change within the minute.
....or they could just speed the thing up....
You're thinking too much into it.
*or* maybe they could use LED numbers so that all the robot had to do was push a button on the top of each and it would increment by one.
Or you could just set it next to an analog clock, and have it reach up and nudge the minute hand at the proper time. You could set up some kind of gearing connecting the hour hand to the minute hand, so the robot wouldn't have to move the hour hand separately.
Oh, wait...
The arm doesn't need to reset to full-top after every number change... just wastes time. Also, weak magnets could help avoid the arm correcting for falling cards - another time waster.
Awesome initial design. If they could miniaturize it to, say 1'x1' and speed the whole process up, I'd gladly purchase one
Ok, so they can make a robot that can beat humans in air hockey, yet this thing takes so long to tell you the time that, by the time it actually does, it's no longer that time anymore!
I deem it a fail. =)
Ten bucks says it gets the jealous of the digital clock and smashes it while you sleep.
Seeing the speed of that robot, you would probably wake up halfway through its terror.
if this thing was small enough to fit on my desk (and not take up the entire thing) i'd buy one for sure. who cares if its "slow" its obviously just for show and its not like its gonna be off by 10 minutes or something.
Where's the snooze button?
Couldn't you do this with a Lego NXT set?
Wow. Watching that is pure excitement.
Some of the comments here are really funny, though - makes enduring that video worth it.
I want to see that arm with an integrated flamethrower and burn all the numbers and then throw its head (arm?) back and let out some sadistic computerized laugh in some sort of artistic rebellion against having to keep time and against time in general. (Woulda made for a much better video :)
That's too much, I like it as it is. :)
LOL! Did someone at Engadget edit my comment?
Let me repeat how the first line of my initial post originally read when I posted it:
"Wow. Watching that is pure (yaaaaawn) excitement."
------------
@Drumdbeat
My initial comment (above yours) was a joke, partner. Don't take it literally.
There are certain elements necessary for a structure or formation to qualify as a henge. Here is the general idea...
"A henge is a prehistoric architectural structure. In form, it is a nearly circular or oval-shaped flat area over 20 metres (65 feet) in diameter that is enclosed and delimited by a boundary earthwork that usually comprises a ditch with an external bank. The earthwork permits access to the interior by one, two, or four entrances. Internal components may include portal settings, timber circles, post rings, stone circles, four-stone settings, monoliths, standing posts, pits, coves, post alignments, stone alignments, burials, central mounds, and stakeholes (English Heritage definition).
Because of the defensive impracticalities of an enclosure with an external bank and an internal ditch (rather than vice versa), henges are considered to have served a ritual, rather than a defensive, purpose."
*shrug*
Just might not be the best name for it.
Cool design though. It'd be great for... something.
The RoboCam by the same company would be sweet at parties...
I'd buy one, no matter how "geeky" it is
Hah, I think this is great. Who cares how slow it is, just so long as it can actually remain accurate and not fall behind.
Though a smart programmer would make it start changing the numbers BEFORE the actual time came up, so that it would finish the tile swapping just as the minute changes. :O
I bet you can make this with Legos
Perhaps they should connect it to a digital display - that way it's robot brain could just control the numbers directly on the display. That would eliminate any speed problems i would have thought.
how much power does it consumes each minute ?
The comments are too funny