Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

Even though I sold my Mindstorms kit this year because I couldnt find the darn time to really use it, I still WISH I had the kit (and the time.) Anyway, while there are many many very innovative and clever Mindstorms robots out there, one of the most interesting and clever that I have seen is the CubeSolver.

The CubeSolver does what it says, it can solve the Rubiks Cube. Not only that, but it is relatively simple and therefore quite elegant. It uses three grabbers (or arms) to accomplish its task. The first is the bottom grabber that the cube sits on which holds the center of the cube allowing that to remain stationary while other parts move and can rotate the cube 360 degrees (180 each way, this can put the cube in a new position relative to the rest of the robot.) The other 2 grabbers are opposed on the left and right side that can turn together (to flip the cube) or one at a time (to move one side if the cube and effectively "make a move" on the cube, that is rotate a part of it.) The gearing and mechanism for all of this is very well thought out.

Next comes the thinking part. Its really not bad at all. First the robot just rotates the cube around and assigns positions of each cube element on each face. This is done with custom optical recognition software written by the robots designer (using the Logitech QuickCam SDK, it turns out the Lego Vison Cam is a Logitech QuickCam.)
Once the robot knows where all the parts are, and can manipulate the cube, it simply uses an existing solution to the cube to make its moves. The designer notes that there are many cube solutions on the net, the shorter move varieties are around 40 turns and that is what he employs.

The whole thing is just plain cool.

For more info on the CubeSolver, and or its designer, JP Brown, see the linked site.   http://jpbrown.i8.com/cubesolver.html