5 months ago
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A robot developed at Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has just set a new world record for solving a Rubik's cube in the shortest time possible: it managed the feat in a mere 0.305 seconds, beating the previous record of 0.38 seconds which was also made by a robot developed by Mitsubishi.
It's a real blink-and-you'll-miss it moment, as you can tell from the video of the robot in action. Thankfully, the video also includes several slowed down replays of the achievement, so you can actually see what's going on.
The new record holder is the TOKUI Fast Accurate Synchronized motion Testing robot – or TOKUFASTbot for short – named partly after the engineer primarily responsible for developing it. Ordinarily, its job is helping to build motors.
"To demonstrate our technical capabilities in achieving high-speed, high-precision windings, which are key to increasing the productivity and efficiency of motors used in many of our products, our young engineers voluntarily worked to set the world record," says Yuji Yoshimura, a senior general manager at Mitsubishi Electric.
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The TOKUFASTbot machine comes with some very useful features for tackling a record like this, including a color recognition algorithm (built with proprietary AI) and a rotation mechanism that spins through 90 degrees in just 0.009 seconds.
Robots have been getting better and better at solving these types of puzzles. In 2009 the record was 1 minute 4 seconds. Just seven years later the time dropped below a minute for the first time. The progress to just 0.305 seconds has been rapid.
Adapting TOKUFASTbot to solve a Rubik's cube wasn't easy though: to begin with, the robot was too fast for the plastic toy, and kept jamming up the puzzle block. Various tweaks and refinements were required to get the successful record attempt on the books.
If you're wondering how mere humans are getting along with the iconic cube these days, the current record for solving a Rubik's cube by an actual person currently stands at a relatively pedestrian 3.13 seconds.
Don't feel too bad if your own solving skills aren't anywhere near as agile and rapid as that though. Erno Rubik, the man who invented the cube he gave his name to in 1974, took a whole month to solve it the first time. More than 43 million trillion configurations are possible on the cube. That's a lot of wrong turns that can be made on the way to a single solution.
As for the Mitsubishi Electric engineers, it's back to their regular jobs after setting the new record – but don't be surprised if they come back for another tilt at the record in the years to come.
"We will continue to take on exciting challenges using the technology we have cultivated in motor development to support global manufacturing," says Yoshimura.
