Beehaw
  • Communities
  • Create Post
  • search
    Search
  • Login
  • Sign Up
floofloof ( floofloof@lemmy.ca )  to ScienceEnglish · 3 years ago

An algorithm that shapes objects to cause them to roll down ramps following a desired path

phys.org

external-link
message-square
19
link
fedilink
87
external-link

An algorithm that shapes objects to cause them to roll down ramps following a desired path

phys.org

floofloof ( floofloof@lemmy.ca )  to ScienceEnglish · 3 years ago
message-square
19
link
fedilink
A team of physicists and mathematicians at the Institute for Basic Science's Center for Soft and Living Matter, in South Korea, working with a colleague from the University of Geneva, has developed an algorithm that can be used to find the shape of an object to cause it to roll down a ramp following a desired path.
alert-triangle
You must log in or # to comment.
  • noughtnaut ( noughtnaut@beehaw.org ) 
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    3 years ago

    I want to make an art installation where a trajectoid rolls down a squiggly and very narrow board (as opposed to a broad surface as shown in the video), so it’s evident that its quirky shape is particularly appropriate to that exact board.

    • mPony ( mPony@kbin.social ) 
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      3 years ago

      and play music from Super Monkey Ball in the background

  • FlyLikeAMouse ( FlyLikeAMouse@feddit.uk ) 
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    3 years ago

    I’m not sure what - if any - practical application it has, but it’s extremely impressive nevertheless.

    • ricecake ( ricecake@beehaw.org ) 
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      3 years ago

      It might have none, or it might turn out to have some unexpected application way down the line.

      The fun part about basic mathematics research is that sometimes it suddenly just perfectly solves some other problem hundreds of years later.

      Like that time in the 1800s a guy figured out a solution to a 350 year old problem, and then in the 90s we realized that it was a description of particle physics and all the math had just been sitting there waiting.

    • OmnipotentEntity ( OmnipotentEntity@beehaw.org ) 
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      3 years ago

      From the article:

      The research team suggests their formulas and algorithm could be used in robotics applications and also in physics research associated with the angular moment of an electron—or in quantum research centered around the study of evolution of a quantum bit.

    • fidodo ( fidodo@lemm.ee ) 
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      3 years ago

      I feel like there has to be some clever use case, but I’ve got nothing

    • CanadaPlus ( CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      It classifies as a basic math result, I’d think. Math is all interconnected, so you’d expect everything to have an economic impact eventually by force of statistics. If there was a subfield of math that stubbornly refused to go anywhere near applications that would itself be interesting.

    • BCsven ( BCsven@lemmy.ca ) 
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      3 years ago

      Coyote final gets a bolder to hit the Road Runner

  • wrath-sedan ( wrath-sedan@kbin.social ) 
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    3 years ago

    Sisyphus is going to be pissed.

    • CanadaPlus ( CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      3 years ago

      I don’t know, this might actually add some entertainment value.

  • crow ( crow@beehaw.org ) 
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    3 years ago

    Algorithm, that’s a buzz word I want to hear more than just “AI”. Algorithms are peak efficiency.

    • ares35 ( ares35@kbin.social ) 
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      3 years ago

      isn’t current ‘ai’ basically just ‘algorithmic intelligence’?

      • megopie ( megopie@beehaw.org ) 
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        3 years ago

        It’s certainly algorithmic but I wouldn’t call it intelligence.

        • loops ( loops@beehaw.org ) 
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          3 years ago

          Maybe like veneer intelligence.

      • CanadaPlus ( CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        3 years ago

        Classical algorithms are used to make a system that can learn, and then the system learns to do things in ways we can’t actually understand, to date. So, it’s built on top.

    • CanadaPlus ( CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 years ago

      If you can find one. A classical algorithm that generates photorealistic images does not currently exist.

      • TonyTonyChopper ( TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz ) 
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        3 years ago

        what about Blender

        • CanadaPlus ( CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          3 years ago

          Ah, you got me, yes that counts as written. Let me revise that to “fully automatic classical algorithm that generates photorealistic images”. Blender requires a lot of human input to work that well.

  • BCsven ( BCsven@lemmy.ca ) 
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    3 years ago

    This is a very cool math application but at the same time you figure this out the first time you roll a cone block down a ramp as a kid (compared to a cylinder block), so these headlines seemingly surprised about scientists discovering these things always seem like “well duh, of course”

Science

science

Subscribe from Remote Instance

Create a post
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !science@beehaw.org

Studies, research findings, and interesting tidbits from the ever-expanding scientific world.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

  • Space

Be sure to also check out these other Fediverse science communities:

  • https://lemmy.ml/c/science
  • https://mander.xyz/c/science

This community’s icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Visibility: Public
globe

This community can be federated to other instances and be posted/commented in by their users.

  • 36 users / day
  • 111 users / week
  • 357 users / month
  • 1.16K users / 6 months
  • 3.27K local subscribers
  • 16.3K subscribers
  • 1.38K Posts
  • 6.11K Comments
  • Modlog
  • mods:
  • Chris Remington ( remington@beehaw.org ) 
  • alyaza [they/she] ( alyaza@beehaw.org ) 
  • Gaywallet (they/it) ( Gaywallet@beehaw.org ) 
  • BE: 0.19.15
  • Modlog
  • Legal
  • Instances
  • Docs
  • Code