ForeverGeek » puzzle

M&M Dispenser Maze: Great for dieters who like a challenge

andy — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:18:16 +0000

SparkFun Electronics have been at it again, this time building something that will definitely slow down your candy habit (unless you just raid the store of course).

The M&M Dispenser Maze features a classic wooden labyrinth around which you must guide an M&M without it falling off the edges.

It uses 8-bit Nintendo buttons for resetting and starting the game, and the joystick from a PlayStation for controlling pitch and roll of the table.

Fantastic idea. Now can we have a version with more obstacles and items to control?

Via

LEGO Mindstorms solves a Sudoku: slow but awesome

andy — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:06:45 +0000

This amazing little LEGO Mindstorms robot has been programmed to solve a Sudoku puzzle and to write the missing figures in.

As you might imagine, it’s quite a complex procedure that involves scanning the digits already present and working out which squares are blank.

Processing the scanned image requires setting a threshold value to remove noise, segmenting to work out which marks are part of the digit, thinning to one pixel wide and then checking the features to find out what the digit is.

Solving the Sudoku puzzle is the relatively easy bit, though the Mindstorm processor is slow and doesn’t allow recursive functions, so took some time to optimize.

Then comes the time to write in all those digits, column by column. The whole process is very slow, for all sorts of reasons, and it won’t be beating a human Sudoku champion any time soon (even if it solved the puzzle more quickly), but that’s not the point. This is a trés cool application.

Is Rubik's 360 the best thing since the Cube?

andy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:15:54 +0000

A couple of days ago the latest puzzle from Rubik arrived on the scene.

Professor Erno Rubik explains. “The Rubik’s 360 is one of the most innovative and exciting puzzles we’ve developed since the Cube – adopting elements of my original design, challenging the solver to use concentration, skill and dexterity. But it’s a more kinetic challenge, more physical, because gravity is involved.”

The object of the puzzle is to move six colored balls into their appropriate holes by spinning the puzzle around.

It’s made up of a 10cm diameter clear plastic sphere with six coloured domes positioned at intervals around the edge. At top and bottom are two black domes which operate an internal ‘locking’ mechanism, and inside the outer sphere is a second one, also transparent, with two holes. Inside this is a third sphere, containing six coloured balls. It also has a hole through which the small balls must pass.

Here’s the official web site, with the rather bizarre promo video below: