YouTube user ezlcd uploaded the above video demonstrating his touch-screen based Useless Machine.
From the tittle/description it’s an EZLCD touch-screen connected to an Arduino Leonardo. Now all that needs to be done is install this in a fancy box.
Via: Google Alerts
The Machine continues to mutate and spread, like this one with a sliding lid that YouTube user blah11blah11blah1 has created:
Via Google Alerts
Jumbleview was inspired by the Make Magazine article to build this version of the Useless Machine. It doesn’t use a toggle-switch, instead it uses two micro-switches and it counts how many button presses take place. The arm comes out and presses the button the same number of times.
The Machine uses a micro controller called a Pololu Baby Orangutan B-168, which I believe to be very similar to an Arduino. The source code can be found here.
Unlike the other micro-controller based Useless Machines, this version REALLY POWERS ITSELF DOWN!
I also like how he’s designed the mechanics of the arm. Great job Jumbleview!
The earliest reference to the Ultimate Machine that I’ve found is by Arthur C. Clarke from the August 1958 issue of Harper’s Magazine article (also in his book Voice Across the Sea: p. 159, Revised edition, New York: Harper & Row, 1959 and 1974):
With this description in mind, Michal Zalewski has posted about his second build of an Ultimate Machine.
As he says on his build page Shannon’s Ultimate Machine, take 2, the goal was to build an Ultimate Machine that was “elegant, simple, and chillingly sinister”. It’s using an Atmega48P micro-controller and it has a display showing a count of how many times the switch has been toggled.