What is the Rubik's Cube record? Robot sets new record for fastest time solving Rubik's cube

Everyone knows such a puzzle as the Rubik's Cube. Many people tried to set the assembly record. But who succeeded? This is what we will talk about. But first things first.

Sculptor Ernő Rubik invented the famous puzzle in 1974, all this time it has been gaining popularity and has become the best-selling toy in the world. IN different parts light, Ernő’s invention is called differently, in most countries it is called the “Rubik’s Cube”, although the author initially called it the “Magic Cube”. This name is firmly attached to the toy in China, Germany and Portugal.

Varieties of Rubik's Cube

There are many varieties of Rubik's cube. Some of them differ in the number of cells in a face: in a standard puzzle, each of the six faces consists of 9 cells, but 2x2x2 cubes and, to a lesser extent, other types, for example 7x7x7, are also common. There is a known case of creating a cube with dimensions 17x17x17. Obviously, the more elements that form one face, the more difficult it is to assemble such a cube.

Some have completely different shapes, such as octahedron, dodecahedron and so on. It is worth noting that the so-called Moldavian pyramid, or Meffert’s pyramid, was invented earlier than the Rubik’s cube.

World record for assembling the “Magic Cube”

Everyone is well aware of the Rubik's Cube puzzle. They tried to set the assembly record in many countries around the world. Enthusiasts who solve Rubik's cubes against time are called speedcubers. Until 2014, official records were updated quite often, but breaking the best results becomes more difficult over time.

Today, the official world record is that the Rubik's Cube is solved in just five and a half seconds. This result was given by Mats Volk, displacing the one who completed the puzzle in 5.66 seconds.

It is worth noting that the ex-champion recorded a video in which he set a new assembly record. He solved the Rubik's cube in just 4.21 seconds, but this fact is not official, and some even dispute it this result. Another unofficial record is held by the robot CubeStormer-3, which was designed by two enthusiasts. As you can easily guess from the name of the robot, designers have already tried to create a mechanism that can assemble a puzzle faster than a human, but they succeeded only in March 2014. World record: CubeStormer-3 solved the Rubik's cube in 3.25 seconds, finally surpassing Felix Zemdegs.

Puzzle in the world

There are constantly many competitions related to this puzzle taking place around the world. In addition to assembling various variations of the cube against the clock, there are even competitions for solving the Rubik's cube blindfolded. Yes, few can even with with open eyes Solve a Rubik's Cube in less than a minute. The world record for blind assembly is 26 seconds! It belongs to Marshall Andrew, an enthusiast from Hungary.

Rubik's Cube in Russia

In Russia this puzzle also received widespread, almost every schoolchild knows the standard Rubik's cube. And the older generation knows the Rubik's cube. They tried to set a record for the assembly at competitions dedicated to this. The first serious competition related to the “Magic Cube” in our country took place at the beginning of 2009, since then open assembly championships have been periodically organized. It is worth noting that among the programs for all Russian tournaments There are various types of puzzles with edge sizes from two to seven.

Rubik's Cube: record for assembling in Russia

The most famous speedcuber in Russia is Sergey Ryabko. His fame was brought to him by his victory in many international competitions related to the famous puzzle. Sergei is also a two-time European champion in this type of activity. Professional career Ryabko started speedcubing in 2010. At this time, an open championship for assembling the “Magic Cube” was held in Moscow, dedicated to the thirtieth anniversary of the puzzle. At these competitions, Sergei became the winner in two categories. It is worth noting that at that time the speedcuber was only 15 years old.

That same year, Ryabko unseated the reigning European champion during the international championship in Budapest. The speedcuber became the European champion for the second time in 2012, taking the place of Michal Pleskovich from Poland.

Sergei has repeatedly won all-Russian competitions and was often invited by the organizers of similar tournaments abroad. This speedcuber can also solve some types of Rubik's cube blind.

In 2009, Ernő Rubik came up with another puzzle - the Rubik's sphere. Assembling this invention requires more complex hand movements, and the process is complicated by the fact that gravity must be taken into account to be successful.

Everyone knows such a toy as the Rubik's cube. The puzzle was invented by an architecture professor from Hungary and bears his name. Many people have tried to set a new record for solving a Rubik's cube against the clock, and some have succeeded. It is these individuals and their achievements that will be discussed in this article.

What is a Rubik's Cube?

Back in 1974, the Hungarian sculptor and inventor Erne Rubik created the first prototype of his famous idea. Since then, this puzzle has become increasingly popular in at the moment is one of the most recognizable objects, receiving the name “Rubik’s cube”.

Initially, the creator gave this toy the name “magic cube”, but it did not become widespread and only gained a foothold in China, Germany and Portugal.

Types of cubes

Records for solving a Rubik's cube can be set both when using a classic 3 by 3 puzzle, and with other variations.

There are simplified options in size 2x2 and more complex ones - 7x7. There have been cases when a Rubik's cube with seventeen cells in length and width was produced. Latest models It will be quite difficult to assemble, and it will take several times more effort and time. Variations of this puzzle with several faces, octahedron, dodecahedron and other shapes were also produced.

World record for Rubik's cube

Since this puzzle is quite popular all over the world, competitions for its assembly are constantly organized at best time. People who do high-speed solving of the Rubik's cube are often called “speedcubers.”

Until 2014, new records for assembling this toy for the best time were set quite often, but in lately their number has significantly decreased, since each time it becomes more difficult to beat the best result.

At the moment the most fastest record the 3x3 Rubik's cube belongs to Felix Zemdegs (Australia), who beat Mats Volk by 0.01 seconds. There is a video of the current champion solving the cube in 4.21 seconds, but since this result was not officially recorded, he holds the record of 4.73 seconds, which was obtained at the 2016 POPS Open championship.

Felix also takes the lead in assembling the largest 7x7 cube. He completed it in 2 minutes and 15.07 seconds at the 2017 World Championships. Our compatriot Vladislav Shaveisky was able to take 5th place in this competitive discipline.

Another Rubik's cube record is held by a robotic machine called CubeStormer-3, designed by two inventors. As can be seen from the name of the robot, the creators already had experience in constructing similar devices, which, alas, failed to overtake the current champion. The latter option was able to beat Mats Volk and Felix Zemdegs and solve the Rubik's cube in just 3.25 seconds, beating both of them by almost 2 seconds.

There is also alternative view competitions in which Rubik's Cube records are set blindly. Not everyone is able to collect classic version with their eyes open, so it’s extremely difficult for speedcubers here. A Hungarian named Marshall Andrew was able to completely solve a cube in 26 seconds while blindfolded.

Rubik's cube record in Russia

IN Russian Federation This puzzle is most widespread; both schoolchildren and the older generation know it.

The first official championship for assembling this toy took place at the beginning of 2009, and since then open competitions have been held periodically. It should be noted that at Russian tournaments not only standard samples with a size of 3 by 3 are used, but also other variations, including those with a different number of edges.

The most popular Rubik's cube solver from Russia is Sergei Ryabko, who has won a number of competitions both in his country and in international level. He managed to become first at the European Championships twice. Sergei's best result was solving a classic 3 by 3 cube in 8.89 seconds.

He began his career in this field in 2010, when he was still 15 years old. Then, in his native Moscow, open competitions were held to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of this puzzle. He immediately managed to take first place in 2 categories. That same year he went to Budapest for the European Championships, where he also won. Later, in 2012, he went to the European Championship for the second time and displaced the former champion from Poland, Mikhail Pleskovich.

Sergei Ryabko became first in all-Russian championships more than once and was quite often invited to the international arena. He is able to solve not only classic cubes (3x3), but also other types of puzzles, including blind ones.

At the last world championship in 2016, our speedcuber Dmitry Dobryakov managed to solve the classic Rubik's cube in 6.61 seconds, which is best result among representatives of Russia.

In 2009, the inventor came up with a new puzzle called the Rubik's sphere. It turned out to be much more complicated than the previous version and requires greater hand movements, as well as taking into account gravity.

Felix Zemdegs set the world record for solving a 3x3x3 Rubik's cube with two hands in one attempt

People have long lost hope of competing with robots in the speed of solving a Rubik's cube. Thus, the absolute record among robots is 0.38 seconds, and robotic designers also boasted that they deliberately paused between movements to reduce the risk of breaking the cube.

Against this background, people’s achievements look faded, but no one is thinking of canceling the championships. After all, there are championships in checkers, chess, go, poker and other games where the computer has surpassed humans. People compete with each other and demonstrate the amazing abilities of the human mind. Not as fast as computer program, but the brain of homo sapiens is also capable of calculating options and making decisions with great speed.

Another proof of this is a new record for solving a 3x3x3 Rubik's cube. The world record now stands at 4.221 seconds - and it again belongs to a 22-year-old Australian named Feliks Zemdegs, who has set records before and was also a multiple world champion.

According to the Australian press, Felix bought his first Rubik's cube in 2008 at the age of 12, inspired by speed cube solving videos he found on YouTube. An hour later he collected it.

A month later, the guy was already able to solve the puzzle in half a minute. Less than two years later, the boy won the Melbourne Cube Day 2010 championship with a world record.

In an interview Huffington Post after winning the second world championship in solving the Rubik's Cube, he said that this trick is available to everyone, it only requires practice and patience. Almost all participants in such championships learned how to solve a Rubik's cube using manuals from the Internet or on YouTube: “It just takes a little practice and patience. But once you understand the solution, everything becomes very formulaic. You understand that for the first stage you need to make these movements, then move on to the next stage and solve this part. This is kind of a beginner's method. And then, as you learn more and practice, you start to put it together more intuitively.”

“I'm always very impressed by people who have figured out a solution themselves, and I think it's incredibly difficult,” says the record holder. “I couldn’t even imagine this - it’s one of the most impressive things.”

According to the table of records, this is already the eighth record of Felix Zemdegs. He installed the very first one in 2010 (7.03 seconds). Then, over the course of two years, he improved his own achievement five times, and then the palm passed to another athlete. Finally, Felix regained his record in 2016 (4.73 seconds), then lost again, and now he has again improved the world record by 37 hundredths of a second.

Felix has one piece of advice for those who want to find a way to solve a Rubik's Cube on their own. He recommends imagining 54 colored cube squares not stickers, but fragments.

The champion also refuses to admit that he is more gifted than other competitors. He doesn’t agree that he has any talent: “Literally anyone can learn this. Obviously, to achieve high results you need some pattern recognition abilities, spatial reasoning, finger dexterity. I'm not sure this necessarily correlates with general intelligence, but definitely requires spatial thinking. And to achieve high speed, it really just takes a lot of practice and determination.”

By the way, Felix holds several other current world records in other disciplines: the record for the average of five attempts, excluding the slowest and fastest (5.99, 5.28, 5.25, 6.13 and 9.19, average 5. 80 s), as well as the world record for assembly with one hand (6.88 s, set in 2015, at

American schoolboy Colin Burns managed to set a new record for solving the famous Rubik's cube. The new achievement is 5.25 seconds. The teenager did everything faster than the previous record holder by 0.30 seconds. It is difficult to imagine that such a speed of assembling a puzzle is generally possible, but practice shows that people sometimes do what few people expect from them.

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It should be noted that the Rubik's Cube is already 40 years old and during this time it has been used to establish huge amount records. In addition, this puzzle is recognized as one of the most successful of those that have been created in the entire history of mankind. The Rubik's cube allows you to develop spatial thinking and fine motor skills, and is also ideal for people of any gender and age.

If you want to test yourself, you can purchase such a puzzle at any toy store, especially since now numerous variations of it have appeared on the market, some of which provide for certain complications of the task. However, first, it is recommended to practice on the standard version of the puzzle, because even mastering it is not as easy as it seems at first glance.

Colin's record was recorded during the competition for the prizes of the World Cube Association, which took place in the town of Doylestown (Pennsylvania, America). Very soon, these data will be officially confirmed, after which the record will appear on the pages of the next edition of the Guinness Book of Records, along with hundreds of other new and no less interesting achievements.

It is important to note that records for solving a Rubik's cube are constantly being set, and the previous one was officially certified in 2013. Considering the interest in this puzzle and the number of people doing something similar on an ongoing basis, then there is a high probability that the next achievement will not be long in coming. In the meantime, Colin Burns can rightfully be considered the person who can solve a Rubik's cube faster than anyone else on this planet.

Ben Katz/YouTube

Robotics expert Ben Katz and software developer Jared Di Carlo have created a robot that can solve a Rubik's cube in 0.38 seconds. This is a record time, says Di Carlo in his blog, although at the moment it is not officially confirmed.

The Rubik's Cube was invented back in 1974, but the puzzle is still very popular. People who are interested in solving Rubik's cubes at high speed are called speedcubers, and the process itself is called speedcubing. Today's record belongs to the American Lucas Etter, who in November 2015 collected puzzle in 4.904 seconds. Similar competitions are also held among robots: until now, the robot of engineers from the company Infeon was considered the unofficial “champion”. In 2016, he solved a Rubik's cube in 0.637 seconds. However, now Katz and Di Carlo have developed a robot that improved the previous record holder's result by 40 percent.

Like all similar devices, the researchers' robot uses a camera (in in this case PlayStation Eye), which transfers pictures of the sides of a Rubik's cube to the computer. It determines the arrangement of the puzzle pieces and then passes the data to the min2phase program, which is based on Herbert Kotzemba's two-phase algorithm. In a fraction of a second, the computer calculates the optimal solution to the problem, after which it sends a command to the robot, and it moves all the elements in the required way.

To speed up the process, Katz used Kollmorgen ServoDisk motors, which have a very high torque-to-inertia ratio. In addition, the engineer built a special controller that allows you to rotate the side of a Rubik's cube 90 degrees in just 10 milliseconds. Provided that the puzzle can be completed in, on average, 19-23 moves, Katz and Di Carlo's robot should solve the problem in 0.25 seconds. However, in reality the process takes 0.38 seconds, since the machine currently makes one movement every 15 milliseconds.

The developers are confident that in the future they will be able to improve their results. Currently, the setup process is time-consuming because debugging must be done using a high-speed camera, and errors sometimes lead to the puzzle breaking or the field-effect transistors exploding. However, a hundred different solutions required only 4 Rubik's cubes. The video below shows one of the unsuccessful attempts to assemble the puzzle:

Recently, programmer Martin Spanel developed software, which allows you to solve a Rubik's cube using augmented reality glasses. In real time it displays required action using an AR headset directly on top of one of the faces of the cube.

Kristina Ulasovich