The Sub1 cut under the previously set a record at 0.9-second using just 20 moves to make it happen, powered by a computer algorithm of its own. The robot’s creator says that it took him several hundred hours to build and program the robot. The victory video below shows an attempt that clocks in at 0.887 seconds.
The video description includes some delightfully nerdy lines, like “Prior to the world record attempt, a WCA-conform modified speed cube was scrambled with a computer generated random array and positioned in the robot.” In the video, the machine is provided center stage displaying armatures that attach to all sides of the cube, which looks quite attractive. On the press of the button, the robot flashes through the moves and solves the puzzle in less than a second. Sub1 uses a World Cube Association speed cube, which had been scrambled unsystematically. Covered webcams are placed to capture different angles of the Rubik’s Cube. When the button is pushed, the webcams go live and captures the cube’s position, going to the computer where “Tomas Rokicki’s implementation of Herbert Kociemba’s two-phase algorithm” controls what moves are needed to solve the puzzle. The world record claim has been submitted to Guinness World Records for investigation and approval, as there were no Guinness World Record officials in attendance when it happened. However, whether Guinness World Records ultimately decides to award the new designation is yet to be seen.
