Technabob » solve

Russian Makes, Then Solves the World’s Smallest Rubik’s Cube

Range — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 20:01:24 +0000

This incredibly teeny tiny Rubik’s Cube was created by Evgeniy Grigoriev and it’s tiny. How tiny? How about 0.39 inches (10mm)! Now that’s extremely small and despite its diminutive size, Evgeniy solves the damn thing pretty fast.

This isn’t his first tiny Rubik’s Cube. He’s got 12mm Rubik’s Cubes for sale for $15 if you want one for yourself. If you’re like me and you’ve got trouble with the big version, then you’ll no doubt appreciate how handy and small this one is. You can easily carry five or six in your pocket to share with your friends any time!

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It’s amazing how small this is. I wonder if he’ll be successful in creating an even smaller version – maybe one that could only be solved under an electron microscope with tweezers.

[via Dark Roasted Blend]

30-Year Quest to Find Least Number of Moves to Solve Rubik’s Cube Ends

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:50:47 +0000

Being six when the Rubik’s Cube was hot back in the 80′s meant that each Christmas for a few years there you were guaranteed someone would get you one of the damned puzzles. For me the only thing worse than opening up a box Christmas Day and finding a Rubik’s Cube was opening that box and finding underwear.

The only way I was ever able to solve one of the things was by peeling the stickers off and rearranging them. One geek in the UK liked the cube so much that he decided to make a career in mathematics just to figure out the least number of moves that the thing could be solved in. It took the guy 30-years to get that answer.

According the man, Professor Morley Davidson from Kent State University the magic number of moves is 20. Some configurations can be solved in fewer moves than that though. Apparently finding the solution involved a “good PC” and about 30 seconds for each solution with about 20 billion possible configurations.

[Cube20 via BBC News]

V-Cube 5x5x5, 6x6x6, 7x7x7: Like Rubik’S Cubes on Crank

Technabob — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:40:14 +0000

I had enough problems trying to solve the original Rubik’s Cube. Heck, I was often tempted to just peel all the colored stickers off and place them on the proper sides of the cube whenever I got frustrated with the damned thing. So when I came across V-CUBES, I just about lost my mind.

V-CUBE cubic puzzles come in 5x5x5, 6x6x6 and an insane 7x7x7 configuration for the true puzzle masochist.

The mammoth 7x7x7 cube is made up of hundreds of individual pieces which rotate around an inner mechanism that was precisely engineered to turn quickly and smoothly (hence the slightly bulging appearance of the cube). If I’m doing my math right, the V-CUBE 7 offers up about 1.95 * (10^160) permutations, so that should keep you busy for just a little while.

Think that seems unsolveable? Check out this video clip of master puzzle solver Frank Morris cranking through the V-CUBE 7 in just under 7 minutes flat:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And just in case that’s not complicated enough for you, the V-CUBE guys are working on future models all the way up to 11x11x11. O.M.G.W.T.F.R.U.B.I.K?

You can find all of these cubes over at the V-CUBES Online Shop. Prices range from about $35 to $70 USD.

[photos via Flickr and speedcubing]