Just recently I was reading an article about how quickly a robot was able to solve a Rubik’s cube. Before I absolutely gobsmack you with the answer, let’s take a quick look at how this frustrating little toy captured the imagination of millions and made the inventor a household name.
The cube became an artifice to determine the IQ of people. If you could solve the cube in a few hours, you were pretty smart. Some people, usually kids, just to make you feel inadequate, developed a knack for being able to solve the puzzle within minutes. Then minutes became seconds. It was insane watching these kids twist and turn and solve the darn thing so quickly. I never heard of any of them becoming neurosurgeons or famous scientists so maybe their only claim to fame was the speed with which they solved Rubik’s Cube.
Soon, it became a challenge for someone to invent a machine that could do it as fast as greased lightning. Personally, I don’t have any interest in just how quickly it can be solved. If you go online, there is a gambling site that has a way to solve it that will make you money. That seems to me to be a better investment of your time. Just find Rubik’s Slot and keep pressing buttons until all the bells ring and the colours match up and you are going to get more enjoyment out of that silly little puzzle than ever before.
Okay, let’s go back to some records that are astonishing and if you don’t believe the times, just Google the info and you will see it all happen before your eyes. In November last year, 2015, a young 14-year-old kid named Lucas was able to solve the cube in 4.9 seconds. If you’re like me and it takes more than 2 minutes to roll the cube around in my hands to make sure I know what colours exist, then you will understand that his time defies belief. Count to 5 in your head and see just how long that takes. When he broke the record, he beat the current time of 5.09 seconds. The sad thing about it all is there are actual “Cube Clubs” where members twiddle the puzzle around trying to beat impossible records.
The robot was a whole new deal. It’s not the fact that a robot could do it in 0.9 seconds, yes you read that right, but the fact that somebody actually took a long, long time to design and create a machine that’s only mission was to do something, well, rather useless when you think about it. It’s all about getting your 15 minutes of fame. It’s true that everybody is different and we all have varied interests and hobbies and things we like to do. But, if somebody asked me to solve Rubik’s Cube I would simply go online and play Rubik’s Slot and have a whole lot more fun.