This Robot Can Solve a Rubik's Cube in Less Than Half a Second

[Judi Lynn]

Blink and you'll miss it!

MICHELLE STARR 10 MAR 2018

If you've ever thrown a Rubik's Cube at the wall in frustration, you're going to hate this robot.

Developed and built by Ben Katz and Jared DiCarlo of MIT's Biomimetics Lab, it's just smashed the record for the fastest time ever to solve a Rubik's Cube: just 0.38 seconds.

Engineers and roboticists have been developing Rubik's Cube robots for some years now, and they've got it down to a fine art: a combination of cameras and actuators for the physical aspects of handling the cube, and software that is programmed to recognise the colours and return them to the correct sides.

Previously, the world record was held by a machine called the Sub1 Reloaded, which solved a Rubik's Cube in 0.627 seconds in late 2016.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/robot-solves-rubiks-cube-breaks-record-0-38-seconds-contraption

[Binkie The Clown]

1. I recall my best time was around half an hour.

And I thought I was hot stuff after that!

[dewsgirl]

2. Half a second? AI may just seriously wipe out the

human species.

[NBachers]

3. I get a kick out of the movie with all the kids getting excited.

[SoCalMusicLover]

4. This Is Unfair

Figuring out how to solve, and actually doing it are different things entirely.

There is no way the machine can actually do the adjustments necessary to fix the cube in that amount of time. It's impossible. I assume that this fraction of a second is how long it takes the machine to figure out what turns are needed to solve the cube in the fastest time. But actually doing it, would still take time, and I'm sure there are pros who can solve the cube using their hands in a short period of time.

[Angleae]

6. And yet it does it anyway.

And fastest by a human is

[Lucky Luciano]

7. The algorithm itself can probably be solved in 1e-5 seconds or something.

Depends on computational power of course. The hard part is making the robot do the algorithm itself!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

5. This magician can solve it in less time than that

and he does it without touching the cube.

(the act starts at 1:30)

So, there, Alexa.