## The Tosser

Here’s a LEGO dice-tossing machine I built.

The two complicated parts are the reduction gear train and the flaps that re-center the dice so that the machine can pick it up correctly each time.

The gear train is composed of several gear reducers, which are composed of a small gear driving a larger gear (thus many turns of the small, driving gear, are needed for the big one to make a complete rotation). Each large gear share its spindle with a small gear that drives the next stage. The gear box yields a 243:1 reduction (which is $3^5$ to 1). Otherwise the motor spins too fast and just, well, eject the dice from the machine.

The flaps are used to funnel the dice back in the middle of the tray, where it can be picked up again.

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The next step would be to use OCR to read the dice value and see if, in the long run, the tosser is a strong number generator or if it is flawed in some way. Can’t really remember where I got the 16-sided dice, but there are some to be found online.