Lego Robot Solves Bigger and Harder Rubik's Cubes

kkleiner writes "It was only two months ago that we saw Mike Dobson's Cube Stormer Lego robot that could solve any 3x3 Rubik's cube in less than 12 seconds. You would think that there was only one person in the world crazy enough and talented enough to pull this off, but now we have found someone else that is just as amazing. The latest Rubik's cube-solving Lego monstrosity is called the MultiCuber, and although it's constructed out of nothing but Mindstorms components and a laptop, it can solve 2×2, 3×3, 4×4, and 5×5 cubes all in the same build! As if that weren't enough, a larger version solves the dreaded 6×6 Rubik's. We discovered the MultiCuber when its creator, David Gilday (IAssemble), wrote us an email to brag about its puzzle-solving might. Consider us impressed, sir."

Comments

heeey....

[socceroos]

That is kinda cool. Can it make me a sandwich? No? Oh.... Well then.

Re:heeey....

[shentino]

http://xkcd.com/149/

Re:heeey....

[Pence128]

if he were running windows, just take out the second and third lines.

It's amazing

[tpstigers]

Just when you think they've peaked, Legos get even cooler.

Re:It's amazing

[Anonymous Coward]

How much cooler? Does the coolness increase linearly with the size of the cube - 2, 3, 4, 5... n Fonzies? Or does it go as the cube of the size? Perhaps it's exactly as cool as before because it solves the same problem.

Re:It's amazing

[Anonymous Coward]

No actually most of us stopped caring after the first robot was made. "OH MY GOD IT CAN SOLVE 36x36 cubes" *snores*

Mindstorm is cool and all

[tsalmark]

But that little "and a laptop" covers a whole bunch of the needed magic.

Re:Mindstorm is cool and all

[Volante3192]

Yeah, if only someone could build a robot capable of doing something without having to be programmed, that'd be AWESOME!

Re:Mindstorm is cool and all

[n17ikh]

The same guy has built a cube solver powered by an NXT and a nokia phone doing the processing, and could easily do the same with just an NXT (two, maybe?) since there is plenty of processing power there and it can even do the image recognition. People have already done this, in fact.

Re:Conditions of cube?

[tsalmark]

well-broken-in, lubricated and stiff all in the same sentence, but no sex, only on slashdot.

Anyone ever tackle Alexander's Star?

[adosch]

I have spent a good chunk of time trying to solve Rubik's cube my brute force (when I started) and after understanding the true mechanics and a small big of mathematics, I've gotten better, not nothing that rivals these Legato Storms!

However at a garage sale awhile back, I found Alexander's Star, which is a 12-pointed star cube oddity similiar (or rival) to the Rubik's cube I could only assume. I'd love to see a Mindstorm tackle this bad boy; I still haven't come even close to figuring this one out.

Re:Conditions of cube?

[SuperMonkeyCube]

The reason that most speedcubers use the Fridrich method is that it is affected less by cube conditions than the corners first method used by Minh Thai in the 80's. A corners first method involves a lot of slice moves (turning the middle layer between the two outer layers), effectively doubling the frictional force required to turn it. The Fridrich method has a large move table and emphasis on face turns instead of slices. The Kociemba algorithm, like what you would find in the 'Cube Explorer' program, uses a much larger move table even than the Fridrich algorithm, and is optimized for a low number of face turns - although not always minimal, it's usually pretty close. So even if the thing wasn't lubed that well, it's going to be fast just because of the low number of moves that it will be able to compute. I would also hope that the robot would be able to apply more torque more precisely than a human and isn't doing more than one cube turn with a given motion, so it has a good chance of overcoming the friction of a new cube. Human cubers do things like RU' (right face clockwise, top face counterclockwise) with a single hand motion and an unlubed cube would hang up on the transition between the two motions. The robot would do two separate clean twists without having to worry about a transition.

All of the V-Cubes, which would be any 6x6x6 or 7x7x7 available that I know of, are more speedcubing friendly right out of the box, as its design was done with correcting for small misalignments in mind so as not to put too much torque on the pieces when turning the cube.

Here's a much faster lego cube solving robot

[Rick Bentley]

sub 20 seconds, reliably: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaRcWB3jwMo

The LAPTOP solves the cube...

[Trip6]

...the robot only actuates the solution.

Re:The LAPTOP solves the cube...

[omglolbah]

I go to parties where such comments are the norm :-p

You might be surprised at the level of geekiness in some circles and how well they can party ;)

You know you have geeky friends when one of the girls refers to her clitoris as "the win button" :-p

Re:Conditions of cube?

[Mr. Underbridge]

You forgot "bigger and harder" in the title. This whole thread is just one big Freudian slit.

Re:Conditions of cube?

[L4t3r4lu5]

I semen what you did there.

Re:Conditions of cube?

[MyLongNickName]

I don't get it.

This is slashdot. You will fit in quite well here.