Flat Neighborhood Network Puzzle

myminifactory

Back in April 2000, we pioneered a brand-new class of interconnection network topologies for parallel supercomputers: Flat Neighborhood Networks (FNNs). You can delve into more details about them at http://aggregate.org/FNN/ - the key characteristic is that PCs are connected to switches so that any pair of PCs always shares at least one switch. The challenging aspect of FNNs lies in how difficult they are to design. We actually utilize a genetic algorithm for designing them... but now you have the opportunity to design them by hand as a compact 3D-printed puzzle, which we originally created for our research exhibit at the IEEE/ACM SC15 conference. Typical FNNs link hundreds of PCs and switches; this model has just six PCs and six 3-port switches. Your assignment is simply to connect all the switches to the PCs to form an FNN. It's more challenging than it appears.... ; -) A very straightforward print in PLA. More enjoyment can be derived if you use different colors for the switches. We also printed them on a Wanhao I3 without any issues.