Flip Fluid on Flip Dots

A developer created a fluid simulation display using a FLIP (Fluid Implicit Particle) algorithm running on a flipdot electromechanical display as an installation for EMF2026. After being unable to access commercial flipdot displays due to their extreme cost and manufacturer exclusivity, they sourced vintage panels from eBay and built custom control circuitry to run the fluid simulation, combining visual effects with the audible mechanical clicking of the flipdots. The project explores the technical challenges of reverse-engineering and controlling these complex electromechanical displays, which use permanent magnets and polarized cores to maintain non-volatile dot positions.