A little rhythm, on repeat.
Lift. Release. Roll. Return.Twelve marbles finding their way home.
A motor supplies the motion.This is not a free energy device.
Setting the machine in motion
Simplified 3D · WebGL is unavailable
Drag to orbit · Pinch or scroll to zoom
Round & Round / Edition 02
A motor turns four meshing gears and the lifting wheel. Open cradles carry the marbles upward. At the top, a narrow tongue passes between the cradle’s prongs and leads into the spiral.
The same interleaving arrangement receives each marble at the bottom. The cradles stay upright. Their fingers spread during the empty return and close again at pickup. All moving parts share one simulation clock.
Pause to hold every moving part. Step advances one quarter second. Drag the time slider to inspect any moment in the 48 second repeating pattern. Camera changes never reset the motion.
This is authored kinematics: positions are calculated, not produced by gravity, friction or a contact solver. The checks cover sampled alignment, continuity, spacing and gear phase. Finger opening is prescribed on sliding joints; a manufactured cam or actuator is not modeled. These checks are not a manufacturing or physical reliability certificate.
Keyboard: Space pauses. Right arrow steps. R resets the view. I opens inspection. Escape leaves inspection or focus mode. Reduced motion preferences start the machine paused.
Rebuilt from your supplied Marble Lift. Three.js 0.170.0, MIT license. No accounts, tracking or external services are needed for the exhibit.
This interactive machine needs JavaScript. Open it as a webpage in a browser.