Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Rolling, rolling, rolling
There's been some contention at The Sunday Game™ about the use of computers to generate random numbers. Usually, dice are used, but there is a small minority who prefers the use of computers over the use of physical dice when random numbers are called for.
But this, I think, is an excellent compromise.
I had a soft target of a machine capable of 200,000 rolls a day, as site traffic is growing. However, any automation project worth doing is worth over doing, and I way overshot the mark. The result is what you see here: a machine that can belch a continuous river of dice down a spiraling ramp, then elevate, photograph, process and upload almost a million and a half rolls to the server a day. I may not get nominated for a Nobel prize, but the deep rumbling vibration you feel more than hear when two rooms away is quite impressive.
Via crasch, Dice-O-Matic hopper and elevator - GamesByEmail
It's a dice rolling machine! A computer controlled machine to roll dice— the computer uses a camera to read the results. Now this is a computer generated random number I can trust.
