This Machine Does Nothing But Make Beautiful Patterns Forever

Most often, we want our machines to do practical things. We want them to weld auto parts together or transport passengers across the city. We want them to crack eggs and bend paperclips, fill bottles, and weave fabric. But is a machine that doesn't do anything practical still good?

The Sisyphus is a solid argument in the 'yes' column. It's not the sort of machine you'd look to when you're trying to produce a batch of soccer balls, but it sure does roll. And the more you look at it, the more mesmerized you'll be.

These incredible patterns were made by a machine called "Sisyphus."

Named after the figure from Greek mythology doomed to spend eternity pushing a boulder up a hill only to see it roll back down again, the Sisyphus rolls across a bed of sand, endlessly carving out a pattern as it goes.

Sisyphus is the creation of Bruce Shapiro, who got the inspiration for his machine's name back in 1998, with his first version of the machine.

"I was watching the ball creating beautiful patterns for hours and hours, only to destroy those by the next pattern on top of them," he says. 

Underneath it all, Sisyphus is a CNC machine moving a magnet under the table. Where the magnet goes, the ball in the sand rolls.

The magnet moves in along a predetermined pattern, which is saved as a file. While Bruce has made large Sisyphuses for museums, he's looking into making smaller one for the home.

Check out this awesome machine in action in the video below!

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