April 30, 2026
ENIAC attack in the comments
Roboticist-Turned-Teacher Built a Life-Size Replica of Eniac
Teacher builds giant early computer replica with students, and the internet instantly starts nitpicking
TLDR: Tom Burick and his students built a full-size replica of a famous 1940s computer to mark its 80th anniversary, and the project is now going on museum display. Commenters were split between praising the educational effort and dunking on the fact that it’s a visual replica, not a working computer.
A heartwarming maker story somehow turned into a classic comment-section split-screen: on one side, people are cheering Tom Burick, the former roboticist turned teacher who helped students at a specialized Arizona school build a life-size replica of ENIAC, one of the world’s earliest super-fast computers from the 1940s. On the other side, the internet did what it does best: zoomed in, squinted, and asked, “Wait... does it actually do anything?”
That’s where the mini-drama kicked off. One commenter got hung up on the phrase “simulated vacuum tubes”, only to realize the “tubes” were basically a visual stand-in made from printed paper. Another went full blunt-force honesty and declared the buried truth: this is an art project, not a working machine. Ouch. Still, defenders would argue that’s missing the point entirely: this was about history, hands-on learning, and giving students something huge and unforgettable to build.
There was also a very internet subplot about Burick’s old robotics business, with one commenter shrugging that selling only about 200 robots proves there’s basically no real market for hobby robot kits. Meanwhile, the most wholesome reaction came from a fellow neurodivergent educator from Pennsylvania, who saw Burick’s story and basically said, “Oh wow, this one hit home.” So yes, the replica sparked nitpicks, realism debates, and a little business cynicism—but it also landed as a deeply personal win for people who rarely see themselves reflected in tech stories. Bonus twist: the replica is now headed for public display at the Computer Museum @ System Source.
Key Points
- •Tom Burick led students at PS Academy in Gilbert, Arizona, in building a full-scale replica of ENIAC at the start of the 2025–26 school year.
- •The project was created to mark the 80th anniversary of ENIAC, one of the world’s first programmable electronic computers.
- •Before becoming a teacher, Burick spent about a decade running White Box Robotics, a company focused on modular mobile robot platforms.
- •Burick developed an early interest in robotics in childhood, built autonomous machines as a teenager, and won awards from IEEE and other organizations for a firefighting robot.
- •The article says Burick’s dyscalculia made traditional mathematics more challenging and contributed to his preference for alternative engineering methods and real-world problem-solving.