MovieChat Forums > Cube (1997) Discussion > The Engineering Challenges.of The Cube

The Engineering Challenges.of The Cube


Thinking about the cube it would require overcoming immense engineering challenges.

First the size. This must be a big building. 26 cubes X 26 X 26. How big is each cube? Assuming a 5 metres that would give dimensions of 130 X 130 X 130 metres or 430 ft (approx) A decent enough height for an office building but with equal width and depth. Apparently no one noticed such a big building being erected. It must have been erected in Area 51 or some secret military base. How much "office space" is that? That is 25 sq metres per cube. Some of the cube spaces would be vacant to allow shifting positions. So assuming total floor space is 25 sq metres X 25 X 25 X 25. That is 390,625 sq metres or 4,204,706 sq feet. That compares to 13.4 million sq feet of the old World Trade Center complex of 7 buildings.

Shifting mechanism of the cubes in X, Y and Z axis. What sort of mechanism? Magnets? I don't see elevator cables as workable. The elvator model will not do. There is an experimental elevator without cables using magnets which could work for height. X and Y movements could be done by guide rails. I can imagine a computer program to guide the movement of the cubes. A code inside each autonomous cube something like "If space to the left is vacant THEN move into it", "If space above is vacant THEN move into it" with variations determined be the X, Y and Z coordinates.

Lighting, electricity, air conditioning and ventilation (and plumbing?). This has be be supplied to each cube in a way that allows for the cubes to be portable. Air has to be circulated in a complex of shafts with vents lining up with each cube. Ditto for electricity. Maybe each cube has its own battery rechargeable from mains which it plugs into at each slot. If each cube is to move around the building then cables wouldn't work. Plumbing? I don't remember any of the characters in the movie taking a nature break. Moving water and waste around a structure with portable cubes would be a neat engineering challenge. It would be like providing a sewered toilet and wash basin in an operating elevator.

Anyone with any other ideas?

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Ventilation was not present, as noted by the characters.

Type like a genius
Talk like a drunk

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Even if ventilation weren't a concern, pressure buildup is still a paramount obstacle because the cubes, to even be moveable, would need to allow for airflow. Elevators for example, create differences in pressure within the elevator shaft. That is one of the reasons why there are gaps along the sides of the cab.

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You forgot about the traps as well. They would require engineering!

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I agree with most of the points noted. It is possible the structure was underground or at least partially subterranean. I think the biggest engineering problem, however, was the mechanism by which the rooms moved. Magnetism seems the only viable solution, but I can't even imagine how it would be implemented on that kind of scale. How would the electromagnets even be powered? Obviously all of the rooms have lighting and automatic doors, so there is a source of electricity somewhere and it is being transmitted somehow.

This might be one of those cases where over-thinking takes away some of the fun and frivolity of science-fiction :)

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Er, it's all pure nonsense, maybe?


...it's just another dumb film, get over it.

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The shifting mechanism can be solved, if the cube walls are thick enough to contain some sort of electric engine. If so, it's not that difficult. All you have to do is put a pair of protruding motor-driven cogwheels and a pair of matching concave guide rails on each side of the cube, one of each being vertical and one being horizontal (so together they would form a hashtag shape). Since the cubes change their position, but their orientation always remains the same, the cogwheels and rails can be arranged in a pattern that ensures that the cogwheels from one cube always fit into rails of adjacent ones (their position must be inverted on opposite sides of the cube). Then you just put all the cubes together correctly and they can move in any direction using only each other as a support, no need for any external structure or driving mechanism. Add some PLCs telling the engines when and in which direction they should move and job's done. Electricity for the whole contraption can be solved in a similar manner - the rails and cogwheels can also act as third rail and pickup shoe used in subway trains, with power being brough through the cubes that are on the surface at the given moment. Not sure if it would require some smart switching system so the cubes would always form a working grid or whether you could just energize the whole thing somehow and do some 'magic' with stuff like induction, I'm no electrician, but I'm sure someone more educated in this area would be able to figure it out easily.
Of course many other small problems would arise if someone really tried to build something this big, but principally it can work and probably it could even be done with today's technology.

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The notion that each cube went through a number of coordinates is structurally impossible, both logically, and from the architectural look we got at the shell - unless whole columns and rows moved.

So that's a bit of a plothole, if you ask me. Most of the structure would be permanently fixed in place.

Salter you can paint your AUssie...you are a joke - Matty1933

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Your premise is flawed in a few ways.

You're assuming it was built by humans.
You're assuming it isn't a simulation.
You're assuming it was built with current technology.

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Why assume a huge building. A number of cubes able to move around each other doesn't require every cube visited be unique, only that the people not realize that they aren't. Just keep the cubes moving around each other, as the people are forced to go through selected exits in sequence.

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I agree. you can certainly control the movement of the people by making dead ends with the traps so there might not be only 5 or 10 rooms in any one direction for all we know.

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Your premise is flawed in a few ways.

Take it easy. He just started a conversation about current technology challeges, and enjoy it as a way to more enjoy the movie, he likes to think about these details. Nothing wrong here. He didn't claim that the movie is unbelievable due to such challeges. You got that?.. Nothing here to be proven flawed or not. This's just a harmless discussion.

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You forgot one. It's a movie, it doesn't HAVE to follow any rules of engineering, physics, etc.

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not every movie falls into the "fantasy" category.

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Oh, my mistake, I didn't realize this was supposed to be based on a true story. Oh, it isn't? Well then a documentary then? No? Then it's fantasy.

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I reply easy and easy to mistake, but wasnt there like 1 cube out of the shell?

I woldnt take Mystery, Sci-Fi film reality as they do resember it, they really dont picture that as they are in reality.

Yash, Ufos play cube and there is one way out.

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yes, there is one entry cube outside, where it all starts.

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the structure and moving mechanisms are sketch at best.
but i just love the feel of this film.

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