Robot Ruby breaks Rubik's cube record (my uni project)

dakiller · 31st May 2011, 9:12 PM

Last year I did my final year project in Mechatronic Engineering/Computer Science degree and a team of 6 of us built a robot to solve a Rubiks cube as fast as we could. Now it just got released to the press -

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-...bik-video.html

Quote:

The robot, named Ruby, can solve the scrambled puzzle in just over 10 seconds, including the time taken to scan the initial status of the cube.
It was built from scratch by six students as their final year project for the double degree in Bachelor of Engineering (Robotics and Mechatronics)/Bachelor of Science (Computer Science and Software Engineering).

There is a video on the website of it solving a cube in 10.69 seconds

Edit: On engadget - http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/30/r...till-cant-bea/

For more behind the scenes videos, I got these below, for more awesome robot action

The basic rundown of operation is that there are 2 systems, the PC software and the embedded microcontroller hooked together via a USB serial link. The camera connected to the PC scans in the cube and detects the colours and determines the cube in the computer, then runs through a tree search algorithm (our own implementation of Kociemba's Algorithm) that finds a list of moves that will solve the cube. That is then fed to the microcontroller which has some big DC servo controlled motors and solenoids that manipulate the robot grippers, to the physical solving of the cube.

For what was a project that we were hoping would just be able to work in the first place, once we got our first really successful and reliable run, the first thing we wanted to do was make it go faster and the fact that we have yet to find a robot that can do it quicker is simply an amazing result in the end

aznpsuazn · 31st May 2011, 9:21 PM

You built that? Respect!!! So anyway how do you determine what the fastest time really is, because every rubiks cube is setup differently? Some might be less steps to solve than others..... What do you go by?

JoJoker · 31st May 2011, 9:26 PM

Fuck. I did this back in high school with lego but it took 10 minutes

It's sick

dakiller · 31st May 2011, 9:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aznpsuazn

You built that? Respect!!! So anyway how do you determine what the fastest time really is, because every rubiks cube is setup differently? Some might be less steps to solve than others..... What do you go by?

The time for the Guinness records have them solve 5 different cubes and the average the the 3 middle times is taken. And to scramble it, at least 40 random turns are needed to ensure that it is random

asher001 · 31st May 2011, 11:48 PM

Amazing. Great project.

lothloriel · 1st June 2011, 12:02 AM

Mate that is awesome

The same course i'm doing at uni! Of all my units the mtrx ones are on a completely different level of awesome.

Is your video analysis a static grid search for that specific cube's dimensions or can it dynamically detect the grid for whatever size cube you put in (i.e. depending on the size of the image from the camera)

Lasmi · 1st June 2011, 12:16 AM

So do we have to knock off dakiller before he starts building T-1000's?

Very impressive

dakiller · 1st June 2011, 1:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lothloriel

Is your video analysis a static grid search for that specific cube's dimensions or can it dynamically detect the grid for whatever size cube you put in (i.e. depending on the size of the image from the camera)

We had both a tracking capture and a static one, the dynamic one was created first and while pretty cool, was slow and a bit unreliable at times and once we got a fixed camera put in place, it was quickly put aside for just putting a static grid and taking the average of each square as the position of the cube wouldn't change.

Testing the old tracking vision system -

More pictures

Click to view full-sized image!
Hosted by UGBox Image Store

HUMMER · 1st June 2011, 1:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lasmi

So do we have to knock off dakiller before he starts building T-1000's?

Very impressive

I believe arnie has been sent to destroy him.

Fortigurn · 1st June 2011, 3:00 AM

Sensational work, well done guys.

James086 · 1st June 2011, 4:02 AM

Is that an Intel stock cpu heatsink on each of the robot arms behind the servos?

Awesome work though, it seems each day that we humans have something more too fear from robots.

HUMMER · 1st June 2011, 5:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James086

Is that an Intel stock cpu heatsink on each of the robot arms behind the servos?

Awesome work though, it seems each day that we humans have something more too fear from robots.

you better start worshiping your new overlord. i know i am.

8MadDog8 · 1st June 2011, 6:34 AM

Nice work mate! Looks very impressive

Go Swinburne

-Ace- · 1st June 2011, 6:42 AM

Awesome work, is all the software built in-house?

Resident · 1st June 2011, 7:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James086

Is that an Intel stock cpu heatsink on each of the robot arms behind the servos?

You better believe it is!. Thanks Kelvin!

Hey Daniel!

This was a pretty fun project, I'm glad you guys enjoy it. Feel free to upvote it on reddit (link). We want to see if it can be the most popular video on the Swinburne youtube channel.

1st June 2011, 12:02 AM	#6
lothloriel Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Sydney Posts: 3,147	Mate that is awesome The same course i'm doing at uni! Of all my units the mtrx ones are on a completely different level of awesome. Is your video analysis a static grid search for that specific cube's dimensions or can it dynamically detect the grid for whatever size cube you put in (i.e. depending on the size of the image from the camera) __________________ \| last.fm \| What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare? -W. H. Davies

1st June 2011, 6:34 AM	#13
8MadDog8 Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Hunter Valley Posts: 660	Nice work mate! Looks very impressive Go Swinburne __________________ 2600K \| Z68XP-UD4 \| 2x4Gb \| GTX 580 DIY Gas Turbine MAME Cab

31st May 2011, 9:21 PM	#2
aznpsuazn Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 1,323	You built that? Respect!!! So anyway how do you determine what the fastest time really is, because every rubiks cube is setup differently? Some might be less steps to solve than others..... What do you go by?

31st May 2011, 11:48 PM	#5
asher001 Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 292	Amazing. Great project.

1st June 2011, 12:16 AM	#7
Lasmi Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Local Posts: 3,750	So do we have to knock off dakiller before he starts building T-1000's? Very impressive

1st June 2011, 3:00 AM	#10
Fortigurn Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: taipei.tw Posts: 11,962	Sensational work, well done guys.

1st June 2011, 6:42 AM	#14
-Ace- (Banned or Deleted) Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Sydney Posts: 51	Awesome work, is all the software built in-house?