Kharakov
Quantum Hot Dog
I've been playing with the idea of creating 4d fractal statues for a while (maybe prompted by MIT's self assembling block bots a few years ago, maybe by a conversation with our ryan).
This led to the idea of having to come up with a way of orienting the robo-blocks (or spheres with multiple truncations), so they could have interlocking power supply feeds.
The simplest scenario would have them with multiple interlocking contact points: male and female points, which would require the blocks to have specific orientations.
You'd have 3 input ends, and 3 output ends. It would basically be quantized- the pseudosphere blocks would have a north and south pole, and a spin axis to determine which orientation is spin up (with power output on top, and then the other 2 power outputs N and E, and the inputs down, S, and W). So as the blocks jumped, aligned, and attached themselves with magnetic fields, they'd have to assume certain quantized orientations... anyways.
A more complex version would have 4 or 6 inductive coils, but it might work better (the contact points don't have to snap together).
Would the induction coils interfere with one another? The blocks would need multiple coils so they can transmit and receive power from multiple directions. They could move around inside the blocks, so that the blocks didn't have to be oriented perfectly. If something was within pi/2, it would rotate towards the closest coil orientation. However, if coils must have specific orientations for maximum power transfer, they might have to rotate by 3/2 pi. So we run into using quantized orientations again.
What about the electromagnets holding the psuedosphere blocks together? Would they interfere with the induction coils?
This led to the idea of having to come up with a way of orienting the robo-blocks (or spheres with multiple truncations), so they could have interlocking power supply feeds.
The simplest scenario would have them with multiple interlocking contact points: male and female points, which would require the blocks to have specific orientations.
You'd have 3 input ends, and 3 output ends. It would basically be quantized- the pseudosphere blocks would have a north and south pole, and a spin axis to determine which orientation is spin up (with power output on top, and then the other 2 power outputs N and E, and the inputs down, S, and W). So as the blocks jumped, aligned, and attached themselves with magnetic fields, they'd have to assume certain quantized orientations... anyways.
A more complex version would have 4 or 6 inductive coils, but it might work better (the contact points don't have to snap together).
Would the induction coils interfere with one another? The blocks would need multiple coils so they can transmit and receive power from multiple directions. They could move around inside the blocks, so that the blocks didn't have to be oriented perfectly. If something was within pi/2, it would rotate towards the closest coil orientation. However, if coils must have specific orientations for maximum power transfer, they might have to rotate by 3/2 pi. So we run into using quantized orientations again.
What about the electromagnets holding the psuedosphere blocks together? Would they interfere with the induction coils?
