Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Lego Robot Solves Any Rubik's Cube In 12 Seconds

Posted by timothy on from the yes-yes-it's-not-the-world-record dept.

kkleiner writes "Cube Stormer is the latest creation from Mike Dobson, aka Robotics Solutions, and not only is it made entirely out of Legos, it can solve any 3x3 Rubik's cube in less than twelve seconds. Often it can finish in less than five! This thing looks bad-ass and is incredible to watch."

15 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. Stickers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    And heres me expecting to see a robot that can quickly rearrange the stickers.

  2. I for one will be slack jawed at the awesomeness by myocardialinfarction · · Score: 4, Funny

    of our new Lego robot masters.

  3. Cheating! by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Funny

    That thing got four arms. Come on, that is cheating.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  4. I solved a Rubiks cube in 12 seconds once by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 4, Funny

    All I needed was 6 different paint brushes dipped in 6 different colours.

  5. How they are doing it? by JoshuaZ · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Unfortunately, the linked to post and video doesn't give much details. Naively, I expect that the computer program is first figuring out very quickly what the series of movements to solve the cube and then implementing those. There are around 4 * 10^19 possible configurations for a Rubik's cube, but the group theory allows one to work out what steps to take without having to do very exhaustive searches since the Rubik's group is very well-behaved. However, this assumes one is in an actually solvable configuration. I'd be curious to find out if they've debugged the device well enough to make sure it doesn't hang or get in some infinite loop if one gives it an unsolvable cube (not all possible permutations of squares are solvable. Most trivially, edges need to stay on edges, corners on corners and centers on centers. But some configurations are still not solvable. For example, if one swaps two center stickers it isn't hard to see that that lays outside the Rubik's group of reachable permutations).

    1. Re:How they are doing it? by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They probably didn't debug it much, but in actuality - most of it is pattern recognition. If you look straight down the corner of one Rubiks cube, you will see 3 faces of it, and that is all you actually need to solve the Rubiks cube. All the pros merely remember the patterns and the steps required to solve each pattern. Rotate the cube 90 degrees and the pattern still exists, even though things are in a different shape.

      Really, the programming side of this isn't that impressive once you know how Rubiks cube solving is done. I'm more impressed at the speed, which I've normally found Lego technic and Mindstorm products to be a little laggy in commands and slow to operate, keep in mind though, that was the stuff I used like 7 years ago.

    2. Re:How they are doing it? by Dunbal · · Score: 4, Funny

      You put it in and it snaps shots of the 6 sides of the cube. Those are interpreted by the computer which probably uses a standard solving algorithm. The solution is translated into movements for the robot, and off it goes.

            I'm stunned. And here I was thinking it worked by magic. Is that REALLY how it's done?

            Sorry, I'm just feeling rather cynical today. Pffft.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    3. Re:How they are doing it? by Garble+Snarky · · Score: 4, Funny

      I am one of those people who can solve a brand-new, just-opened Rubik's cube blindfolded. Let me tell you, it's not all that difficult.

  6. Re:Obligatory by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The only people who care about that pointless distinction are trademark lawyers.

    For the rest of us, they're simply called LEGOS.

  7. Re:Obligatory by H0p313ss · · Score: 5, Funny

    For the rest of us, they're simply called LEGOS.

    The world is divided into two groups, those that call them Legos and those that make fun of the first group.

    --
    XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
  8. Re:That's fast by c6gunner · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are you sure? Just about every Asian I know can do it that quickly, and they make up about 30% of the world's population.

    That's because in China they use The People's Cube

  9. This Video is FAKE by tonycheese · · Score: 4, Informative

    Okay, it's not FAKE but it's completely and entirely dishonest. I can solve the rubik's cube in about 20 seconds over an average of 12 solves, so I have a thorough understanding of human speed-solving. Computers, on the other hand, would go for some idea solution that a human brain is not capable of producing. This is especially true since the robot in this video moves EXTREMELY slowly, about 1-2 turns per second on average. Human hands can EASILY sustain 3-5 moves per second. This computer, to solve the Rubik's cube in 2 seconds as in the first part of the video, or 4 seconds as in the second part of the video, would have to be able to solve the cube in 4-10 moves. The optimal solution for solving a rubik's cube has already been bounded at about 18 moves (look it up).

    Still don't believe me? Start watching and replay the video from 30s onwards. Freeze the video when the timer starts at 0:00 and look at the cube, it is actually a single 90 degree rotation away from a fully solved state.

    The 4s video beginning at 1:07 shows several rotations of the WHOLE CUBE without making any actual moves, then does 4 turns and solve it, which means that it wasn't anywhere near a scrambled state to begin with.

    More evidence that it's fake? Is there any information on this other than a 2 minute video on youtube?

    1. Re:This Video is FAKE by bondsbw · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The next to last solve (at 41s) takes 21 moves*, and is the only cube claimed to be random... thus, I don't see any dishonesty. It takes around 1.9 seconds to analyze, about 0.4 seconds to reset/process, and the remaining 8+ seconds to solve. Therefore, it makes on average between 2 and 3 turns per second.

      Humans do not include inspection time in the speed calculation (at least, that's the case in the accompanying video of the world record). An apples-to-apples comparison, therefore, would be the human time at 7 seconds and the robot at a little over 8. I couldn't follow the world-record video, but I think I saw at least one mistake (a move followed by the opposite move) and a little hesitation. So, you're probably correct in the 3-5 moves per second for humans.

      *21 includes twice that the computer simultaneously moves two faces, each counted as two separate moves. 180 degree moves are counted once.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    2. Re:This Video is FAKE by TheGeniusIsOut · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you watch carefully, the "Full Solve", which states such and claims to be a "totally random cube (Honest)", takes 10.75 seconds, including inspection. The 2.01 second solve is a demonstration of the MINIMUM time required for "inspecting and making one twist" on an unsolved cube. It is the blogger, and not the video, who makes the claims of solving in 2.01 seconds, and while it technically is a solve, the inventor rightfully does not claim such. The world record human solve of 7.08 seconds is not including the untimed inspection period. I would not consider this a dishonest video, since the video does not claim anything but the 10.75s solve to be a real solve, which by the rules of the second video's competition, would actually be an 8.74s solve....

      --
      Ignorance is Bliss -- And the Opposite is True -- Genius is Madness
  10. The Lego-Coolness equation by brendan.hill · · Score: 4, Funny

    Um

    It's made of LEGO dude.

    Being made of Lego raises the coolness of an object to it's own power. So if a machine solving a Rubik's Cube had a coolness factor of say, 100, then a machine solving a Rubik's Cube MADE OF LEGO would be 100 ^ 100, or:

    100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

    I mean I don't even care if it's fake... it's still epickly cool.