My new website - intresto.com.au

It's the same name as the old website but it's been redesigned:

intresto.com.au

Rocksolver builds a wall

Even before structural stability criteria have been explicitly programmed into Rocksolver it has built a stable structure. The photo shows Rocksolver's automatically generated design and the small desk-top structure built from real rocks following Rocksolver's plan. Rocksolver is using a 2D optimisation algorithm which would suit many applications such as retaining walls where stone masons already select prism-shaped rock. Stone masons mostly use a mental 2D algorithm to build a variety of structures from prism-shaped rocks because that's a lot easier than the mental 3D manipulations required to build with a random selection of rocks. Already Rocksolver has the capability to use 3D algorithms and build with random irregular shapes. Results from 3D testing will be published here and at intresto.com.au as they come to hand.

Could be a world first

The image on the left is the result of running a Rocksolver simulation using data corresponding to 5 real rocks. The right-hand image is the real structure built by following the packing plan devised by Rocksolver. This could be the first time a new structure has been built from irregular objects following instructions from a computer program. It's possible some old structures have been re-built following the output from archaeological reconstruction software. The software required to simulate the rebuilding of an old structure is quite different to that required to simulate the building of a new structure so I'm happy to say it's a first.
The packing plan in the image came from my first desk-top simulation, even before the packing algorithm parameters had been optimised so things will only get better from here on.