An Analog Computer for Non-Digital Computational Paradigm
Anabrid has built an analog computer, THAT (THE ANALOG THING), which is similar to Raspberry Pi but works on continuous voltages.
Have you heard about analog computers previously? If not, analog computers are those electronic devices that are used to process analog data. These machines are used in systems that require data to be measured directly without converting it into numerals or codes. German tech company Anabrid has built an analog computer, THAT (abbreviation of THE ANALOG THING), which is similar to Raspberry Pi but works on continuous voltages rather than with zeroes and ones.
The Analog Thing is a low-cost analog computing device designed for educational and recreational purposes. With this open source project, you can build your own analog device from scratch referring to the documentation provided by the manufacturer. You can also find circuit diagrams, components required, and schematics openly available to play around with. The components that went into the making of THAT are integrators, inverters, multipliers, capacitors, comparators, and many more.
THAT can be used to explore the capabilities of a non-digital computational paradigm. Specifically, it can solve differential equations by way of integration and can produce results in the form of graphs representing relationships between dependent and independent variables. If you buy this analog computer, you need a set of plug cables (included with THAT), a USB power supply with a USB-C plug, and a hardware or software oscilloscope to read the output.
If you are interested in buying this fascinating analog computer to play around with analog computing, check out THAT's product page where it will be available for sale at a price of around €300.