Speedcubers can solve a rubik's cube in under a minute, with world-class competitors often doing it in less than 10 seconds. But how fast can a robot do it?
The Component Production Engineering Center at Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has set a World Record for the fastest time to solve a rotating puzzle cube. The robot, engineered by the Japanese company, completed the task in less than one second.
The record-setting event took place in Tokyo on May 21. The robot's performance was captured in a blink-and-you-miss-it video shared by Guinness World Records, which said, “Fastest robot to solve a rotating puzzle cube.” The clip showed the robot solving a standard 3x3x3 puzzle cube in just 0.305 seconds – faster than the human eye can follow.
The video quickly went viral and has since attracted a large audience.
A user commented under the footage, “Rubik Cube Solved Before I Blinked My Eye.”
Another stated that it was “genuinely insane how fast that is.”
“This is what we call record breaking!” a third comment read.
Someone else proposed creating a “GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS (Robots Edition).”
The main man behind this record attempt, Mr Tokui, is from Mitsubishi Electric's Component Production Engineering Center, where he typically focuses on motor development, as per GWR. Despite his confidence in the quality of their products, Mr Tokui wanted to impress people by breaking a record. After watching videos of the previous record holder, Mr Tokui believed their motor was better. This made him think they could beat the record in speed.
But breaking the record wasn't just about fast motors, it needed all the machine parts to work smoothly together. Getting every tiny bit of speed was tough. Mr Tokui said, "Trying to save time was hard work, but it was also fun. I never lost interest in the project."
However, the puzzle cube could not keep up with the robot's speed. So they kept working on the machine to stop the puzzle from getting stuck. But during the first official try, the puzzle got stuck again.
In the second attempt, the robot achieved a time that had never been reached during practice runs, securing a Guinness World Records title. Mr Tokui credited his team for this milestone and believed that “our products can make the world an even better place.” “I hope the record will allow people everywhere to know what our products are capable of,” he added.
Guinness World Records states that the fastest average time for a human to solve a 3x3x3 puzzle cube is 4.48 seconds, accomplished by Yiheng Wang from China.
