See the robot that smashed the Rubik's Cube world record – video

A robot made of Lego and powered by a Samsung S4 has solved the Rubik's Cube in record time

A ROBOT made from Lego and powered by a smartphone has beaten the Rubik's Cube-solving record by completing the puzzle in little more than three seconds.

A Samsung S4 provides the processing power for the robot, with a custom-built app that takes a picture of the cube and then sends instructions to mechanical arms that twist the rows of the cube until all the sides show matching colours.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Inventors Dobson and Gilday said that even they were surprised how quickly their robot was able to solve the puzzle: "We knew CubeStormer 3 had the potential to beat the existing record but with the robot performing physical operations quicker than the human eye can see there's always an element of risk," said Gilday.

"In the end, the hours we spent perfecting the robot and ensuring its motor and intelligence functions were properly synchronized paid off. Our big challenge now is working out if it's possible to make it go even faster," he added.

The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair is the largest science and engineering convention for young people in Britain.

Explore More