Robot solves Rubik's cube in 3 seconds

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in robotics on (#3H0)
story imageHow long does it take you to solve a Rubik's Cube puzzle? Because, unless you answered, "under three seconds" you're going to have to do a bit more practice.

The new, mind-blowing record of 3.253 seconds was set on Saturday, March 15th, by a robot at the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham, U.K. The robot was built by Mike Dobson and David Gilday using LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3, LEGO Technic and a smartphone. The record is not only faster than previous record holder, the CUBESTORMER II robot , but also faster than the fastest human time of 5.55 seconds.

Watch a video of the feat here . The Lego website has additional details as well.

[Editor's note: As for me, I'll be impressed when a robot knows how to tie a necktie. Oh, wait ...]
Reply 3 comments

Mats Valk (Score: 3, Informative)

by songofthepogo@pipedot.org on 2014-03-27 18:53 (#V2)

For those of you who've not seen Mats Valk's 5.55 second solve , it's impressive to watch (to a slow-cuber like me, at least), even in slow motion. I especially like where he pauses mid-way to examine the cube and plan his next sequence. I wish I could think and move that quickly.

The Cubestormer is, of course, an impressive feat of engineering and design. I'm especially in awe of the software end of things ... the machine vision and algorithm generation. Plus, combining Lego and Rubik's cubing? Neat!

Re: Mats Valk (Score: 1)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-03-28 11:12 (#V5)

I agree the whole thing is pretty astonishing - both Mats' performance and the robot's. Even the agility necessary to do that kind of trick is impressive, not to mention the mental processes behind the hands. Most of the people I work with can't even tie their shoes (or type!) that fast.

Just checked out the EV3 Lego website (Score: 1)

by rocks@pipedot.org on 2014-03-28 17:19 (#VA)

I think I might need to take the plunge and buy a basic set... I think its hard to visualize what you might want it to do until you have one with which to play? I wonder the same thing about 3D printing as well.