4 ms·

Air Powered Segment Display? [video]

145 points by ProfDreamer 6mo ago

rbanffy 6mo ago
It becomes more interesting when you couple a flexible display with it.
- Wowfunhappy 6mo ago
  ...especially if that display could be a touch screen...
  - joezydeco 6mo ago
    It's been tried with fluid instead of air. https://www.engadget.com/this-oled-screen-can-fill-with-liquid-to-form-tactile-buttons-204829553.html https://www.engadget.com/this-oled-screen-can-fill-with-liqu...
    - robocat 6mo ago
      Link to video from article: https://youtube.com/watch?v=j_rErbhxNFM https://youtube.com/watch?v=j_rErbhxNFM They show a few other interesting actuators in first 20 seconds of video.
tyleo 6mo ago
Wow, this is underrated. The start of the video cuts between a few other inventions this creator made using air. They discussed using air for digital logic gates generally. Really neat stuff I hadn’t thought about before!
pointpth 6mo ago
sometimes humans are awesome.
scentoni 6mo ago
If the active elements were convex instead of concave, I can imagine this being useful for people with visual impairments. How does this compare to existing technologies for braille displays?
- fhdkweig 6mo ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display The technology hasn't changed at all since the 1992 film Sneakers with the blind character Whistler. https://youtu.be/GS3npSv8iuM?t=124 https://youtu.be/GS3npSv8iuM?t=124
olalonde 6mo ago
Rocky would approve.
- sudo_cowsay 6mo ago
  niche
- pipe01 6mo ago
  Amaze. Amaze. Amaze.
caditinpiscinam 6mo ago
A whole new type of "vacuum tube"
guiambros 6mo ago
Dupe from a few days ago [1], but glad this is gaining some attention. Truly remarkable work. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47733345 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47733345
gherkinnn 6mo ago
If you liked the pneumatic segmented display like I did, here is a meditative video on alternative segmented displays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTB5XhjbgZA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTB5XhjbgZA No affiliation, just one of my favourite videos.
aspiringLich 6mo ago
Sometimes I wonder whether computing would have been possible if electricity and its related effects could not be harnessed for logic and computation. In that alternate universe I could imagine us creating quite sophisticated devices running off of compressed air; perhaps not to the atomic level of precision we can achieve with solid state devices, but extremely capable nonetheless.
- r4ge 6mo ago
  Charles Babbage designed his difference engine that was mechanical and used punch cards for loading programs. The machine was mechanical and used a steam engine to power it.
  - fhdkweig 6mo ago
    And they weren't just hypothetical curiosities. Many companies manufactured variants of the concept. Desktop mechanical adding machines continued to be used in offices all the way up to the 1970s when electronics finally replaced them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CNqWY_kNZ8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CNqWY_kNZ8
- adrian_b 6mo ago
  Manipulating free electrons in electronic logical devices has important advantages in enabling miniaturization, low energy consumption, high speed and long life, but it is possible to make logical devices, including computers, using a great variety of other techniques. You can easily make logical gates, automata or complete computers using pneumatic or hydraulic or electro-mechanical or purely mechanical devices. These 4 kinds are still in use in certain applications, where their advantages remain important, but even more implementation techniques are possible, for instance with optical devices or with devices based on controlling ionic flows instead of electron flows or with devices based on controlling the kinetics of chemical reactions (i.e. an enzyme whose activity can be modulated, e.g. it can be inhibited, can be seen as the equivalent of a transistor or a relay, because it can allow or prevent the conversion between 2 chemical substances, i.e. the flow of matter between the 2 substances, like a relay can allow or prevent the flow of electrical current). The latter 2 kinds of devices are exemplified by the living beings.
timonoko 6mo ago
I bet you can reproduce the look on Cheap Yellow Display for 5€. This also looks like a real thing any further than a foot: https://youtube.com/shorts/JlYUZN7aw20?si=a_DspL_Ct2NLSyaO https://youtube.com/shorts/JlYUZN7aw20?si=a_DspL_Ct2NLSyaO

145 points by ProfDreamer 6mo ago

rbanffy 6mo ago

It becomes more interesting when you couple a flexible display with it.

Wowfunhappy 6mo ago
...especially if that display could be a touch screen...
- joezydeco 6mo ago
  It's been tried with fluid instead of air. https://www.engadget.com/this-oled-screen-can-fill-with-liquid-to-form-tactile-buttons-204829553.html https://www.engadget.com/this-oled-screen-can-fill-with-liqu...
  - robocat 6mo ago
    Link to video from article: https://youtube.com/watch?v=j_rErbhxNFM https://youtube.com/watch?v=j_rErbhxNFM They show a few other interesting actuators in first 20 seconds of video.

tyleo 6mo ago

Wow, this is underrated. The start of the video cuts between a few other inventions this creator made using air. They discussed using air for digital logic gates generally. Really neat stuff I hadn’t thought about before!

pointpth 6mo ago

sometimes humans are awesome.

scentoni 6mo ago

If the active elements were convex instead of concave, I can imagine this being useful for people with visual impairments. How does this compare to existing technologies for braille displays?

fhdkweig 6mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display The technology hasn't changed at all since the 1992 film Sneakers with the blind character Whistler. https://youtu.be/GS3npSv8iuM?t=124 https://youtu.be/GS3npSv8iuM?t=124

olalonde 6mo ago

Rocky would approve.

sudo_cowsay 6mo ago
niche
pipe01 6mo ago
Amaze. Amaze. Amaze.

caditinpiscinam 6mo ago

A whole new type of "vacuum tube"

guiambros 6mo ago

Dupe from a few days ago [1], but glad this is gaining some attention. Truly remarkable work. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47733345 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47733345

gherkinnn 6mo ago

If you liked the pneumatic segmented display like I did, here is a meditative video on alternative segmented displays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTB5XhjbgZA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTB5XhjbgZA No affiliation, just one of my favourite videos.

aspiringLich 6mo ago

Sometimes I wonder whether computing would have been possible if electricity and its related effects could not be harnessed for logic and computation. In that alternate universe I could imagine us creating quite sophisticated devices running off of compressed air; perhaps not to the atomic level of precision we can achieve with solid state devices, but extremely capable nonetheless.

r4ge 6mo ago
Charles Babbage designed his difference engine that was mechanical and used punch cards for loading programs. The machine was mechanical and used a steam engine to power it.
- fhdkweig 6mo ago
  And they weren't just hypothetical curiosities. Many companies manufactured variants of the concept. Desktop mechanical adding machines continued to be used in offices all the way up to the 1970s when electronics finally replaced them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CNqWY_kNZ8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CNqWY_kNZ8
adrian_b 6mo ago
Manipulating free electrons in electronic logical devices has important advantages in enabling miniaturization, low energy consumption, high speed and long life, but it is possible to make logical devices, including computers, using a great variety of other techniques. You can easily make logical gates, automata or complete computers using pneumatic or hydraulic or electro-mechanical or purely mechanical devices. These 4 kinds are still in use in certain applications, where their advantages remain important, but even more implementation techniques are possible, for instance with optical devices or with devices based on controlling ionic flows instead of electron flows or with devices based on controlling the kinetics of chemical reactions (i.e. an enzyme whose activity can be modulated, e.g. it can be inhibited, can be seen as the equivalent of a transistor or a relay, because it can allow or prevent the conversion between 2 chemical substances, i.e. the flow of matter between the 2 substances, like a relay can allow or prevent the flow of electrical current). The latter 2 kinds of devices are exemplified by the living beings.

timonoko 6mo ago

I bet you can reproduce the look on Cheap Yellow Display for 5€. This also looks like a real thing any further than a foot: https://youtube.com/shorts/JlYUZN7aw20?si=a_DspL_Ct2NLSyaO https://youtube.com/shorts/JlYUZN7aw20?si=a_DspL_Ct2NLSyaO