@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social
Post #3288423
2026-06-11 08:55 UTC
Replies (20)
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@warrenkc@social.vivaldi.net 2026-06-11 09:20
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social that is really cool. I wonder what it is called and where I can purchase one for a friend who collects windup toys.
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@brunogirin@mastodon.me.uk 2026-06-11 09:38
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social I watched the video 3 times and I'm still trying to understand how it works. I asume one of the driving wheels falling off the side engages the directional wheel that turns it round but it still looks like magic.
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@Heliograph@mastodon.au 2026-06-11 10:07
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social we grew up with many variations of that and they all drove us nuts 😆
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@MxVerda@lgbtqia.space 2026-06-11 10:21
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social I am tainted by internetting. I cannot read the word 'edges' without an unearned smirk
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@largo@mstdn.social 2026-06-11 10:25
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social Oh god I absolutely viscerally detest the kind of noise these toys make. I can't stand it, it's even horrible reproduced via speaker.
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@clayfoot@mastodon.social 2026-06-11 10:37
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social Now do the Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster that measures actual doneness mechanically
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@dat@social.g33ky.de 2026-06-11 10:51
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social I had a Lego model in the 90s that did something similar. it drove straight ahead by rear wheel drive. When something collided, the back wheel came closer to the front, lifting the body slightly and engaging reverse for a set time. It was geared in a way that backwards motion meant the steering got tilted. So forwards until collision, backwards curve until new direction, forwards again. it successfully navigated my bedroom until the batteries went empty. :-D
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@GracelessHippo@mastodon.ie 2026-06-11 11:17
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social Love it. And fully want that book.
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@whangdoodler@piipitin.fi 2026-06-11 11:21
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social thats what the robot vacuum cleaners need, not more cameras.
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@j_bertolotti@mathstodon.xyz 2026-06-11 13:18
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social Not the same thing, but reminds me how a linear planimeter can measure the area enclosed by an arbitrary curve just by measuring how much a wheel turned while tracing the curve. You can do marvels with purely mechanical systems if you know what you are doing!
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@jamoquanty@mastodon.social 2026-06-11 13:19
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social Let's cyberpunk Mars fast before Elon ruins it.
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@dan_turner@cosocial.ca 2026-06-11 14:13
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social It moves like a mechanical version of the bouncing DVD logo screen!
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@renardboy@mastodon.social 2026-06-11 14:31
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social Love this. Goes to show that whatever problem you're trying to solve with advanced tech, chances are good that there's a simpler, cheaper, less fussy way to do it.
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@dukeboitans@mas.to 2026-06-11 15:09
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social wait until you learn about analog computers
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@Frenchtoastpeasant@mastodon.social 2026-06-11 16:31
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social my kid got one of these in a hello kitty mystery box on a trip we took to China, id never seen them before, but they kept us entirely for a long time...
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@jeffhorton@mstdn.social 2026-06-11 17:04
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social also one of the fun default toys in here to explore robotics https://cyberbotics.com/#webots
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@oook@im-in.space 2026-06-11 18:28
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social technically it doesn't detect anything, it is just made to steer automatically once the main front wheels end up not touching the ground.
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@mormegil@mastodonczech.cz 2026-06-11 19:20
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social In Czechoslovakia, a similar metal ladybug toy has been manufactured in huge quantities since ~1960. Basically every family had at least one of those... (It's still manufactured today in Czechia.) See e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af4_9iEsXbI (randomly found video)
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@dieterjosef@mas.to 2026-06-11 19:54
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social Like an analogue computer.
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@tursilion@furries.club 2026-06-12 02:38
@VoltPaperScissors@chaos.social That's pretty cool! The tech of my childhood was bump'n'go. I never quite figured out how they work, though I was generally annoyed by how cheap it felt. Still, I wonder if I could make a go of understanding it today. I remember two wheels on a rotating disc. Would drive straight till it hit something, then the disc would turn, changing the direction of drive. But how I never learned.