It perpetually knocks down and resets a ring of dominos.

Dominos are made to be set up and knocked down. So, Jason Allemann of JK Brickworks made a LEGO machine that perpetually knocks down an infinite ring of dominos. It’s a useless contraption, but I could stare at it all day, and I’m sure you could too.

Jason Allemann is a well-known LEGO builder with decades of awesome projects under his belt. He regularly publishes new creations (plus kits and instructions) through JK Brickworks, including several perpetual machines. And Allemann has designed some official LEGO sets, like the popular LEGO Ideas Marble Maze.

Anyway, Allemann’s Infinite LEGO Domino Ring features a circle of 64 red dominos, which perpetually fall in sequence and stand back upright. Each domino operates on a hinge, so after it’s knocked down by a neighboring domino, it’s reset by a small spinning train.

A LEGO Mindstorms EV3 device (which you’d normally use in a robot) regulates the speed of the train, ensuring that it doesn’t reset any dominos too early. As a result, the robot can knock down about 1,500 dominoes each minute of operation. (Allemann plans to do a one-hour test of this machine to see how much it can endure.)

Notably, this project was inspired by Grant Davis’ auto-stacking LEGO domino machine. Unlike the crazy ring we’re looking at today, Davis’ machine operates in a straight line and uses magnets to reset each toppled domino.

Be sure to check out Jason Allemann’s video to see the perpetual domino machine in action (turn on captions for some commentary on the build). You can also visit the JK Brickworks website to see more great builds.

Source: JK Brickworks via Gizmodo