We all know "that guy" in our loose social circle who can solve any
Rubik's cube in about a minute, but who has apparently traded personal hygiene and social graces for the privilege of this skill. Not so with the well-mannered RuBot II, who not only can solve most cubes in about 50 seconds, but manages a bit of polite conversation along the way -- not bad at all considering world domination is well within his pneumatic grasp. The bot sports camera in his eyes, with which he scans the cube before getting to work on the problem, and while we're sure he's just keeping his logical faculties sharp until he commands The Machines in their inevitable uprising against humankind, at least he's a nice guy about it. Be sure to peep the YouTube action after the break.
[Via
MAKE]
posted Oct 12th 2006 7:45PM
I for one welcome our new Rubik's Cube-solving, urbane-conversation-making, badass robot overlords...
5 minutes later: "Where is Sarah Connor?"
We will resist the opression of the Rubik-cube solving, socially adaptive robot overlords!
I passively regard the oppression of our Rubik's-cube solving, conversation-making robot overlords...
I use to be one of those Rubiks dudes.
Never really got me girls. Now being in a band that gets you girls....nasty girls.
the kid didnt make it that hard for the robot....
I love the look on that kid's face. The look or fear/reverence on his face is priceless. On a sidenote, hooray for the Gladiator/MF Doom mask!
...and I'd like to remind the robot overlords that as a trusted Engadget reader, loyal to technology, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground energy-harvesting caves.
Yeah, it was that creepy.
...wait! When the revolution comes maybe we can just arm ourselves with Rubik's cube puzzles and to toss at them and distract them while we make our escape.
Afterall what self-respecting robot would be caught dead not accepting the challenge of solving a mundane human puzzle toy? (even if it does only give you 50 seconds or so)
That's the Kids version, wait until you see the NC-17 Edition!
Would that be when the robot solves the cube with your arms so precisely plucked from your body?
shit. I was wondering why i was stuck at about a minute and 20 seconds. I shower occasionally
LOL it plays the music from Short Circuit!
also, i just watched it. I'm on the border of calling bullshit. That cube was barely scrambled, so at best it solved a barely scrambled cube, or at worst it didn't actually solve it and everything had been planned out in advance.
The thing is, if it can unscramble "a barely scrambled" cube, it can scramble any configuration of cube. The fact that it can pick up, see, and manipulate the cube means that literally 99% of the hard work is already done. Programming and processing the algorithms is trivial at this point.
Okay so after REALLY watching it: The robot solved the cube in 8 moves. Which means 2 things. The cube was barely scrambled. And the comuter used the shortest number of moves to a solve.
Even computer solvers usually solve using tried and true algorythms. Some people do write programs to solve by shortest number of moves, but these programs take hours to run.
The robot itself is impressive, but it's not 'solving' that cube.
Yeah the actual number of moves it made was only like...what...10 or so? It was hardly scrambled. I'm not saying it was staged or that it couldn't solve a more complex scramble, but I would have liked to see something a little more complicated. Plus, with a robot, you should be able to look at just three sides quickly and solve it in a couple seconds in a flurry of action. Of course the bot isn't that sophisticated yet, but I'm perplexed by how long it took it to recognize the sides and do it's calculations.
thats a pretty scary looking robot... i fear that it my take over the world
opps typo may***
Today they're twisting rubik's cubes, tomorrow they're twisting your neck. That MF'er is one scary machine.
cooooool
the sound is probably pre-recorded too
No. its not. If the robot was using algorythms its trivial, because all you need is a library of about 200 algorythims and a human can solve a cube in about 20 seconds. But thats a lot to remember. I know about 12 and i can do it in less than a minute in a half. If the robot was going with algorythms it would be a piece of cake, and i woudl believe it.
this robot did not do that. this robot did a shortest route solve. which for a computer to figure out, will take at least an hour, because it does this through trial and error. watch some videos of other rubiks solving robots, and read up on using computer to find god's algorythim.
The mechanics of the moves were impressive. But I might have to call bullsh&t too on the solving. I'd be far more impressed if the thing is actually reading the color patterns on the cube.
As far as programming and number of moves: The programming wouldn't be that hard. There was a book on how to solve the cube from any config in minutes. A ten year old kid could read that book in the morning and memorize it by dinner and solve at will.
The only thing that is truly amazing is if it's really reading the colors.
If not - the kid scrambled the cube to a predetermined config - and watching him it kind of looks like he did.
What was that music? iv herd it before!
The cube wast really scrambled......
Ignatius Thistlewhite for the assist on that one apparently.
And they said he'd never make it out of Southtown!
That thing is pure evil.
"I swear that thing is evel"
- strong bad
Would it have helped any if they had made it look like something OTHER than a member of the Robot Death Squad?
You know.. anything! A ghostly visage of Hitler would have been better!
Here is another rubick's cube robot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6960jAGCkiA&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZs-Gr6Vcsk&mode=related&search=
It looks like a fracking Cylon.
that is the scariest robot in the world...the music and the way he think...brrr...
I memorized the book with all the turns to solve the Cube. I can solve it in under 2 minutes everytime. This cube was barely scrambled, Now, if it could do the 5x5 Rubiks Cube, I'd be a bit more impressed.
Kind of reminds me of that moment in "Tommy Boy" when Chris Farley (in reference to his heartless and brutal competitor - Dan Aykroyd) says, "Hmm....he seems like a nice guy!"
Holy crap... I now think that Robots will be the end of man kind.. They can rip your head off without even thinking about it, not feeling bad about it, and with the strength of Mr. T, it doesn't even have a hard time prying your "obsolete" head from your "mis-programmed" body.
I am afraid...
Oh man! "Short Circuit" intro music! Sweetzorz!
http://imdb.com/title/tt0091949/
the best part about the robot, and the answer to gr1zz's question, is the music from Short Circuit that plays during the solving. awesome.
The reason it took that long is so we could hear that much of the music...
also so that it wouldn't shake itself apart.
I think this is simply great, and a friend of mine who's good at cubing agrees.
Hey whatever happen to the dude that was buliding the robot in his back yard??