Marble Computer
Client Paris Science Museum / Universcience / CNAM
Year 2023, work in progress
Genre Prototype
Materials Plywood, POM, steel, polycarbonate
Commissioned by Paris Science Museums, this first prototype was made to test boundaries of a fully functional computer operating with marbles. Speed and reliability were the main focus, while exploring design and manufacturing techniques.
The OAB had to perform simple logic operations only by mechanical means. The control was done electronically in this version, the next one will aim at a mechanical way to operate the system.
The marbles represents the binary logic, made of 0 and 1.
One of the challenges was for the machine to read the ones and zeroes in a physical way, through a module called the reader. The choice was made early on using 2 different marble diameters for black and white, 1mm in that case.
Testing the distribution from the tanks, to make sure no jamming occurs over time…
The storage in the 10 octets made of 12 bits each
Final check before complete wiring and electronification at the CNAM, Paris