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Lego NXT Bot Beats Rubik's Cube Record

Posted by Unknown on from the robots-do-it-better dept.

kkleiner writes "The current official human record for the Rubik's cube 3×3×3 puzzle is just 5.66 seconds. Now a robot called CubeStormer II did it in just 5.35 seconds. CubeStormer II is controlled by four Lego NXT 'bricks' that communicate via Bluetooth with a Samsung Galaxy SII smart phone. A special app on the phone takes a picture of the cube, solves the puzzle virtually, and then relays the solution to the Lego robot. From click to finish the whole process takes just seconds."

26 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. Now this... by ackthpt · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is what you call a Hack

    Is anyone in the medi-uh listening?

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Now this... by FunkyELF · · Score: 1

      I thought this was the sort of things that Lego Mindstorms was supposed to do. Using something for its intended purpose is the exact opposite of a hack.

  2. I for one... by wisebabo · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... would like to congratulate our new Rubik's cube solving Lego overlords!

    (That's the first time I've ever had a chance to post that, does that mean this meme is dead dead dead?)

    1. Re:I for one... by kvezach · · Score: 1

      It is dead, dead, dead. It thought it was hot, guess what, it's not!

    2. Re:I for one... by xstonedogx · · Score: 1

      ...welcome our robotic idiot savant overlords?

  3. Wow by The+Joe+Kewl · · Score: 1

    Nothing short of amazing...
    I guess I will have to stick with making non-robotic LEGO models

    1. Re:Wow by pepeperes · · Score: 2

      It's a LEGO brick robot, ffs! I guess no one at the real robotic industry has decided to invest in a Rubik cube solver robot. The robot's speed surely could be improved a lot using the "right" technology!

      --
      ... from the forgotten corner in europe
  4. 3x3? by RockClimbingFool · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't that be 3x3x3? Or has someone has invented the two dimensional Rubik's cube?

    1. Re:3x3? by jginspace · · Score: 1

      Each FACE is 3x3?

    2. Re:3x3? by sam0737 · · Score: 1

      Just to differentiate it from 2x3 or 3x4 configuration, for that matter...

  5. I for one... by RoverDaddy · · Score: 1

    bah, you fill in the rest.

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    RETURN without GOSUB in line 1050
  6. Problem solver? by sgt+scrub · · Score: 2

    A robot with fast hands! Now THAT is a push towards robotic friends for geeks.

    --
    Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
    1. Re:Problem solver? by jank1887 · · Score: 1

      it did not look gentle at all. so, robotic friends for a subset of geeks who are into that.

  7. Re:Inspection time... by jank1887 · · Score: 1

    well, to be fair, in the posted video it didn't take 15 seconds for inspection. assuming the first shot is taken after the clamps go down (~0:12) it presents the solved cube at about 0:18. So, est. 6 seconds including inspection. not too shabby.

  8. Singularity by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 1

    None can defeat me on the Cube 0. Well, in the abstract, at least.

  9. It's not just that this Lego NXT bot can solve it. by otaku244 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... it's that it looks so damn cool doing it!!!
    It looks like some sort of contraption you'd find in a Sci-fi movie.

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    Mod me down, I shall become more off-topic than you could possibly imagine.
  10. Question by mjr167 · · Score: 1

    Why does the screen on the phone go black at about 14 seconds into the video?

    1. Re:Question by mystik · · Score: 2

      I wondered the same thing -- I think it's because it's switching the video mode from 'regular' graphics to show the camera capture, to '3d' mode to show the opengl rendered cube based on the capture data.

      --
      Why aren't you encrypting your e-mail?
    2. Re:Question by eison · · Score: 1

      It's shutting off the camera. Switching camera on/off has a slight visual delay.

      --
      is competition good, or is duplication of effort bad?
  11. Terminator 5 - rise of the lego bots by cod3r_ · · Score: 2

    (tm) (c) patent pending

  12. The human race by Brad1138 · · Score: 1

    Less needed day by day....

    --
    If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
    1. Re:The human race by plover · · Score: 1

      Bah. My Rubik's cube solving job was outsourced to China five years ago.

      --
      John
    2. Re:The human race by jamiesan · · Score: 1

      I'm not allowed to solve it. It's a union job here.

  13. Re:Awesome, but not apples-to-apples by djmurdoch · · Score: 2

    The humans are also allowed to study the cube before their time starts; the time for the robot included the time for the virtual solution.

  14. cooler by DSS11Q13 · · Score: 1

    a slightly slower, yet far more terrifying rubix cube bot can be seen here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaRcWB3jwMo&feature=player_embedded

  15. Why four? by Pence128 · · Score: 1

    Why does it need 4 NXT bricks? Do they not have enough I/O? Maybe there's a market for an NXT port expander.

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