Assignment One · 14 October 2004
A desk made of perfectly smooth black lacquered wood. It should be twice as wide as deep, with four unadorned legs. No drawers.
Nested inside each of the four legs shall be a height-adjustment mechanism, either pneumatic or robotic, whatever you prefer. I see rubber-tipped metal rods extending out the bottom of the legs, or possibly extending from the tops of the legs and fixed to the surface piece of the desk.
On the desktop is a single steel ball bearing, kept in constant motion by subtle adjustments to the height of the legs. An electronic grid inside the surface of the desk will track the direction and velocity of the ball bearing as it rolls around. As the bearing nears one edge of the desktop, the angle of the surface relative to the ground will be adjusted and gravity will correct the path of the bearing, slow it down, and send it off in the reverse direction, and so on, in perpetuity.
It goes without saying that no guardrail or other such safety precaution will be allowed. Extra points will go to those who can make it run silently.
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