Hardwired to Destroy Itself combines a one-hertz timing circuit with a motor-driven drill so that operation periodically damages components on its own protoboard. A 555 timer provides the 1 Hz signal while a synchronized DC motor rotates the mechanism that brings the drill bit into the circuit.
The machine is built largely from scrap wood, recycled cardboard, and a motor salvaged from an old printer. Creator bornach made it for Hackaday.io's One Hertz Challenge.
A classic useless machine merely turns itself off. This one keeps working by physically destroying the circuit that lets it work. Completion may be indistinguishable from disappearance.
la machine is a new take on the Useless Machine: flip its switch and an arm emerges from the box to switch itself off again.
But it does not turn itself off the same way every time. The arm may emerge immediately, hesitate, move slowly, or combine its movements with different sounds. Sometimes it resists interaction; at other times, when left alone, it may extend its arm to seek attention.
Thousands of behaviors are available, and the machine is designed to develop a different “personality” over time as it is used.
A machine whose job is to be useless now has moods and personality-like behavior. Only the uselessness keeps getting more capable.
Most automatic Rubik's Cube machines are built to solve the puzzle as efficiently as possible. This one was deliberately made to represent the experience of someone who cannot solve it. Created by Shintaro Tamefusa, who says he cannot solve a Rubik's Cube himself, the machine grabs the cube with four arms, performs apparent analysis on a PC and keeps turning the puzzle. Eventually it starts voicing doubts, suggests dubious shortcuts and finally gives up and drops the cube. Instead of automating competence, it automates being stuck.
The machine doesn't solve the puzzle; it mechanizes the feeling of not knowing what to do. Even the robot starts losing confidence.
Uncooperative Mirror is designed so that its tiled surface moves and breaks up your reflection when you approach. Small servos sit behind the mirror tiles, while an ultrasonic sensor detects a nearby person and triggers the motion.
The closer you get to use the mirror, the less useful it becomes. With an Arduino Uno, an ordinary object has been turned into something that actively refuses its most basic job precisely when someone needs it.
The mirror waits for a person to arrive, then suddenly stops cooperating. It feels less like an appliance and more like a personality.
A classic useless machine merely turns itself off. This one keeps working by physically destroying the circuit that lets it work. Completion may be indistinguishable from disappearance.