University of British Columbia student designs robot that solves Rubik’s cube

Recent UBC grad Kristopher De Asis has designed and built a robot that can both solve and scramble a Rubik's cube in potentially record-setting time. Courtesy UBC 

Thandi Fletcher Metro Solving a Rubik’s cube is no easy feat— except for a robot named Josh.

Recent University of B.C. graduate Kristopher De Asis has designed and built a robot that can solve the famous six-sided puzzle in potentially record-setting time.

Dubbed Josh, the ‘bot can solve a 2×2 Rubik’s cube, which has two layers, in about 15 seconds and a standard Rubik’s cube, which has three layers, in about 35 seconds.

“I believe it’s the fastest one-armed robot,” De Asis told Metro. “The quicker ones use two or four arms.”

The robot made its debut at VanCubing, a speed-solving Rubik’s cube competition held at Vancouver’s Science World on Saturday, where it was used as a “scrambler.”

At Rubik’s cube competitions, computer-generated algorithms are used to scramble the cubes to provide equal chances to competitors.