Eater/block frob

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Eater/block frob
x = 10, y = 10, rule = B3/S23 b2o$2bo$2bobo$3bobo$5b2ob2o$8b2o$2b2o$3bo$3o$o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART ]] #C [[ HEIGHT 500 THUMBSIZE 3 ZOOM 36 GPS 2 LOOP 4 ]]
Pattern type Oscillator
Number of cells 20
Bounding box 10 × 10
Period 4 (mod: 4)
Heat 8.5
Volatility 0.55 | 0.55
Kinetic symmetry Unspecified
Discovered by David Buckingham
Year of discovery Unknown

Eater/block frob is a period-4 oscillator found by David Buckingham in 1976 or earlier.[1] Composed of an eater 1, a block, and what is roughly a melusine, it is essentially a tub-with-tail eater constantly being hassled. "Frob" is used by MIT as a generic term meaning "thing".[2]

The block can be replaced with a long hook with tail, and the eater 1 can be replaced with an eater bridge eater or an emulator.

Its grin makes it useful in the p4 bumper.

This oscillator first appeared naturally on April 3, 2022, in a soup found by Charity Engine using apgsearch,[3] though a seminatural C4_1 tetramerisation occurred on March 4, 2022, 30 days earlier,[4] in which each quadrant's eater head is fused to the roughly-melusine to form a roughly-fuse with tail and nine. The reduction of the 5 cells in the eater body and melusine tail seems to make it easier to find than the monomer, despite each quadrant having to occur at a fixed displacement from the centre.

Carson Cheng found an 11-glider synthesis of this oscillator on June 30, 2022.[5] A 10-glider synthesis was found in April 2023.[6]

See also

References

  1. Dean Hickerson's oscillator stamp collection. Retrieved on March 14, 2020.
  2. Mark Niemiec (November 27, 2016). Re: Help with names (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  3. Ian07 (April 3, 2022). Re: Soup search results (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  4. attribute page, first soup
  5. Carson Cheng (June 28, 2022). Re: Synthesising Oscillators (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  6. shinjuku (#4077651254) (April 7, 2023). Job triggered by Adam P. Goucher at GitLab Catagolue project.

External links