Multicore Coaster

The Parallel Ball Run

At CeBIT 2016, emmtrix Technologies presented in cooperation with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) the emmtrix Multicore Coaster. The Multicore Coaster is a ball run that demonstrates and visualizes the complexity of parallel programming. It consists of four parallel rails that represent four cores of a quad-core processor. It shows the complexity of following the individual balls through the whole sculpture. Software developers face the same complexity when programming multicore processors.

Technology

• 4 parallel rails
• 16 actors / stoppers for stopping balls
• 16 light barriers
• 1 magnetic ball elevator
• 1 Raspberry Pi 2
• 1 touch screen

Acknowledgement

Mechanics designed by Zeitlos Modelle

Electronics designed by Michael Rückauer

Software developed by Michael Rückauer and Oliver Oey