PneumADDic II

I was invited by Syngress to join a team to create a "LEGO Mindstorms Masters" book, where we got to build whatever creations we wanted without restrictions to a particular set. We got to describe the science behind the design of the robots in as much detail as we wanted. 

I created and wrote chapters for two designs, both having to do with LEGO pneumatics. The first design I completed was PneumADDic II, a second generation pneumatic adding machine based on PneumADDic my first pneumatic adding machine.

My original PneumADDic design was based on pneumatic OR gates I designed. Later I invented pneumatic AND gates that required less LEGO parts, and operated much better at lower pressure. For PneumADDic II, I created an improved AND gate design and a similar design for OR gates. 

PneumADDic II combines 4 AND gates and 3 OR gates into a full binary adder that can add to inputs data bits, plus a carry in, and produces a sum out and a carry out. PneumADDic II also has a pneumatic carry memory, used to transfer carry out from one binary place to carry into the next binary place. Like PneumADDic, PneumADDic II performs serial binary addition, one binary place at a time. 

PneumADDic II uses three motorized pneumatic switches, a two motor-four large pump compressor, a 16 key keyboard, combined with an RCX to complete the adding machine capabilities.