Last November, 14-year-old Lucas Etter amazed the world by unraveling a Rubik’s Cube in 4.904 seconds and earning a Guinness World Record for the fastest time. A spectacular display of human prowess, but only modest for what a machine can do; a new robot built and programmed by software engineers Jay Flatland and Paul Rose solved the puzzle within 1.019 seconds.
Not only did their robot out-do Etter, but it completely decimated the previous machine record of 3.253 seconds in at least four separate attempts, gaining speed after each one: 1.196 seconds, 1.152 seconds, 1.047 seconds, and 1.019 seconds.
Check out their video below:
The robot consists of stepper motors, 3D-printed frames, and four USB webcams used to scan the puzzle and make note of its initial color arrangement. The cube state is then fed into a Linux-based computer running an application with the Kociemba Rubik’s Cube Solving Algorithm to simulate the puzzle and plan all the necessary moves.
Developed by Herbert Kociemba, the algorithm brilliantly recreates the entire puzzle in Java, taking in account not just how to display a fully 3D puzzle as a flat 2D projection in text, but also codes all possible moves. The two-phase algorithm is not new in and of itself, and is the code primarily used by most Rubik’s Cube-solving robots; what’s unique here is how Flatland and Rose managed to leverage the code and apply it into a solution that’s approximately 300% faster than the CubeStormer robot that won the LEGO World 2014 contest and set the previous machine record.
To rotate the cube, their design relies on lining up carefully drilled holes in each side of the Rubik’s cube with four 3D-printed “feet” attached to 6 stepper motor drives that are controlled by an Atmel Arduino. Once the cameras feed the visual information to the computer and the Kociemba algorithm determines the correct moves, the motors immediately solve the puzzle regardless of its initial configuration.
Flatland and Rose have not officially been recognized for their design, for they have not yet submitted the robot for evaluation, but at this point the title is pretty much assured so long as the robot doesn’t malfunction.
Source: Engadget
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