(Credit:
Hans Andersson)
Lego Mindstorms are futuristic toys for creative kids. But who knew these DIY robots can get creative themselves and solve puzzles?
Swedish programmer Hans Andersson bought a programmable Mindstorms NXT kit for his two daughters and then began tinkering with it himself. The result: a toy that can autonomously solve Sudoku puzzles in what looks like a matter of minutes.
The Sudoku Solver scans the entire puzzle with a light sensor before determining the missing digits in each square. Its computer performs image processing with a thresholding algorithm to make sense of the sensor data. Recognizing the existing numbers in the puzzle seems to be the most difficult part of the process.
Solving for missing numbers is easy with a backtracking algorithm, according to Andersson. "But since the Mindstorms processor is rather slow, and since it doesn't allow for recursive functions, it took some care to optimize it," he writes. The toy can still do Sudoku better than me.
Andersson has also created a Mindstorms robot called Tilted Twister that can autonomously solve a Rubik's Cube in about six minutes.
Gotta love robots. Now they're playing with our toys; next they'll be playing with us!
(Credit:
Gizmodo)
Looking for an '80s pop culture phenomenon with a modern twist? Of course you are, otherwise Transformers could not have made more than $300 million in the U.S. alone. Think smaller though, as in cube-shaped and able to fit in your hand. Of course it's a Rubik's Cube silly!
Gizmodo is reporting on a Rubik's Cube, the TouchCube, that features a touch screen, and has an accelerometer and a button that makes it solve itself. It also can purportedly even teach you how to solve it step by step. The new cube is scheduled for a fall release.
What I remember most about the original Rubik's Cube was that when I switched the colored stickers around (so that it looked like I'd solved it), they never quite looked as flat as they did on a brand new cube. Yes, I'm admitting I was never very good at this thing and had to resort to "special tactics" to impress my friends, some of whom were dumb enough to actually believe that I'd solved it.
I guess that's my problem with a touch-screen Rubik's Cube. Sure it looks pretty and the technology is kind of cool, but with a "solve" button people are actually going to have to watch you solve it in person before they'll believe you did. No more attempting to cheat but not really pulling it off and having only some of your friends believe you.
Hmmm, until, of course, someone comes out with a hack that makes you look like you're solving it as you use it. Haxx0rs, you have your assignment.
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Episode 123 |
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The Rubik's Cube has been one of the most well-known puzzles since the 1980s. But the inventor, Hungarian Erno Rubik, is not done causing frustration and has just introduced the Rubik's 360 toy.
Unlike the original, this puzzle is spherical, and the purpose is to change the position of six balls in its central sphere so that they will eventually be located in six compartments on the outer sphere.
It looks like this puzzle won't require you to remember an endless number of algorithms just to solve it like the original cube, but we won't be surprised if you still end up tearing your hair out in the process. It is expected to ship in July or August for $23.40.
(Source: Crave Asia via gizmag)
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(Credit:
Amazon.com.jp)
Hey, you there, seated to my left and across the cubicle. This one's for you guys. Lest you readers think I've found new pleasure talking to myself, I am actually dedicating this post to two of my Rubik's Cube-fixated colleagues. It is hilarious watching them trying to outdo each other on a rather frequent basis (mind you, they use timer clocks as well) before slamming down their cubes on the desk to signal the completion of the puzzle.
Enter the new Rubik's Mirror Blocks puzzle, which should up the ante a bit. No two blocks are identical, and instead of colors, each cube has a mirrored surface. So I guess the tried-and-tested formula of solving the puzzle no longer applies. The cube is supposed to be available in Japan in the next couple of weeks at about $20. Not too much to ask for a few more moments of hilarity, I guess.
(Via Crave Asia)
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Could either of these Rubik's Cube prodigies solve the cube in 26 moves? Leyan Lo talks strategy with Shotaro Makisumi at a competition in January 2006.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)Editors' note: This blog initially misspelled the name of a record holder for solving a Rubik's Cube. He is Leyan Lo.
Clearly, I've been doing something wrong.
Since the early 1980s, when I got my first Rubik's Cube, I've never been able to solve it. Oh, sure, I got one side done, and maybe even two. Or, I could break the thing open and put it back together in its original, solved position.
But now, according to the BBC, a supercomputer has determined that a Rubik's Cube is solvable in less than 26 moves, regardless of the starting position. So, boy, don't I feel dumb?
It turns out, thanks to research done by Northeastern University graduate students Daniel Kunkle and Gene Cooperman that that's all it takes to solve one of the famous toys. Duh.
Yet, I wonder: Could the computer that proved this beat the likes of Leyan Lo, who early last year set the world's record of 11.13 seconds? I sort of doubt it. After all, have you ever seen a supercomputer try to turn a Rubik's Cube?
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