Sub1 Robot Solves Rubik's Cube In 0.887 Seconds
No matter how fast you get at solving the Rubik's Cube, you'll never be robot-fast. The race has been on to build a robot that outperforms other robots, solving the colorful cubed puzzle at record-breaking speeds. It was astounding when a robot solved the puzzle in a little more than two seconds, and especially exciting when a new sub-1 second record was set. Now a creator has published a video of his own results, and it takes things down to a mere 0.887 seconds.
The saga of robotic Rubik's Cube competitions started back in November when Zackary Gromko's robot solved the puzzle in 2.39 seconds, earning a new Guinness World Record. It didn't take too long for someone to beat that record, though. The record has since passed on to Paul Rose and Jay Flatland whose robot solved the Rubik's Cube in 0.9 seconds.
As you can see in the video below, the speed is so fast the cube becomes a blur.
A new creation is seeking to dethrone the duo, though — the Guinness World Records hasn't officiated their victory, and so no new world record has been set as of yet. Adam Beer, an industrial engineer, has created a robot called Sub1 that allegedly hit the sub-1 second speed in January, and has now managed to beat the 0.9 seconds speed.
The victory was caught on video (below), and shows an attempt that clocks in at 0.887 seconds.
The machine itself is very attractive and given center stage in the video, showing armatures that attach to all sides of the cube. When the button is pressed, the robot blazes through the moves and solves the puzzle in less than a second. Sub1 uses a World Cube Association speed cube, which had been scrambled randomly.
Webcams, which are covered, are positioned to capture different angles of the Rubik's Cube. When the button is pushed, the webcams go live and captures the cube's position, shuttling it to the computer where "Tomas Rokicki's implementation of Herbert Kociemba's two-phase algorithm" determines what moves are needed to solve the puzzle.
There are 20 moves in the video you see above. Beer plans to submit a claim for the title based on the video; whether Guinness World Records ultimately decides to award the new designation is yet to be seen however.
Curious what humans are capable of? The current human-solved puzzle record sits at 4.90 seconds, and is held by Lucas Etter of Maryland.
SOURCE: Gizmag