Mister Atompunk Presents: Atomic Almanac Season Zero

Level 2 — THE FEEDBACK LOOP  

Cybernetic Control Systems (1948)

“The boundary is not between biological and mechanical. It is between systems that can adapt… and systems that cannot.” — Norbert Wiener

What this is

A hands-on micro-lesson in feedback—the universal principle behind thermostats, living cells, rockets, and robots. Tune a target, measure the error, correct, repeat. Four short phases, one idea that scales everywhere.

Playthrough

Phase 1 — Thermostat Control
Set a target temperature and watch negative feedback pull the system into stability.

Phase 2 — Balance Beam
You enter the loop. Keep the ball centered by adjusting the beam in real time.

Phase 3 — Plant System
Manage light and water to maintain plant health. Multi-variable homeostasis.

Phase 4 — Autonomous Navigation
Assemble simple IF → THEN rules. Your robot senses, decides, and corrects toward a goal.

Controls

• Sliders for targets and inputs

• Mouse movement for the balance beam

• Dropdowns to program robot rules

• Start/Stop to run the autonomous loop

You’ll learn

• Negative vs. positive feedback

• Stability, error, and correction

• Single- vs. multi-variable control

• How simple rules + sensing create purposeful behavior

Level 3: Hebbian Learning Coming Soon.