Get the time from GETULA, a modular chain link clock

After observing a bicycle chain lying on the street in a random pattern, Ekaggrat Singh Kalsi was inspired to make a morphing clock that bends chains to tell time. The clock, known as “GETULA,” consists of four independent modules that work together to reveal the hour and minutes.

Each GETULA module uses two stepper motors to advance a couple of custom 3D-printed chains out of the device’s structure. As they are pushed forward, a pair of servos manipulate the links left and right, incrementally creating numbers when fully formed.

Control is accomplished via an Arduino, along with some A4988 stepper drivers. As of now, only one number is animated, but the other three digits can still be positioned to simulate how the full four-digit device will look.

You can see a nice demo of GETULA the first video below as well as a clip of it changing from the year 2020 to 2021 in the second.