Solving a Rubik’s Cube in 0.38 seconds

In November of 2016, the world record for a robot solving a Rubik’s Cube was .637 seconds, but as of March 2018, that record appears to have been broken. The ridiculously speedy robot above, built by Ben Katz and Jared Di Carlo, has improved on that time with a result of .38. Can you see what’s happening in unreal real time? From Di Carlo:

Our solve time of 0.38 seconds includes acquiring the image from the webcam, detecting colors, finding a solution, and actually rotating the faces of the cube. In the video, the machine is solving a “YJ Yulong Smooth Sitckerless Speed Cube Puzzle”, available on Amazon for $4.55. We used the cheapest cube we could find on Amazon Prime because we thought we’d end up destroying many of them, but somehow ended up only going through 4 cubes and 100’s of solves.

Here’s how one of the cubes exploded in real time and slowed down, destroyed by what looks like a mismatch of computations with hardware—competing twists at high speeds:

Plus, more videos about speed: A Formula One Pit Stop Explained and The incredible sport of cup stacking, explained.

via @CircuitScribe.