QUESTION: Who is currently the fastest to solve the Rubik's Cube puzzle? What is the speed record for assembling a cube with dimensions 3x3x3, 2x2x2 and 4x4x4? What is the speed record for solving a 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube blindly and who set it?
Rubik's Cube 3x3x3
To date, the classic 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube was the fastest to solve by an American teenager. Lucas Etter (Lucas Etter). He set the absolute world record by solving the Rubik's Cube in 4.904 seconds on his first try! The record was set on November 21, 2015 in Clarksville, Maryland in the USA. Lucas is only 14 years old, lives in Kentucky and is a speedcubing professional.
Rubik's Cube 2x2x2
In addition, he also holds the world record for the speed of solving a 2x2x2 Rubik's Cube. Lucas Etter in September 2015 at the championship in Nashville collected the cube in 1.51 seconds!
Rubik's Cube 4x4x4
The world record for solving a 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube in 2015 was set by a 19-year-old from Australia at the China Championship 2015. He solved the cube in 4.9 seconds. 
Assembling the Rubik's Cube 3x3x3 blindly
Marcell Endrey is a Hungarian speedcuber who specializes in assembling the popular eye-closed puzzle. At the World Speedcubing Championship in 2012 in Zonhoven (Belgium), he blindly solved a 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube in 28.8 seconds! But his record only lasted three years. In 2015, at the World Speedcubing Championship, which was held in China (China Championship 2015), a 17-year-old Chinese man set a new world record for solving a 3x3x3 Rubik's cube with his eyes closed, having completed a difficult puzzle in 21.05 seconds!
Detailed information on world records for solving a Rubik's cube of any size can be found on the website
Ben Katz/YouTube
Roboticist Ben Katz and software engineer Jared Di Carlo have created a robot that can solve a Rubik's Cube in 0.38 seconds. This is a record time, says Di Carlo in his blog, although at the moment it is not officially confirmed.
The Rubik's Cube was invented back in 1974, but the puzzle is still very popular. People who are fond of high-speed assembly of the Rubik's Cube are called speedcubers, and the process itself is called speedcubing (from the English speedcubing). Today's record belongs to the American Lucas Etter, who in November 2015 collected puzzle in 4.904 seconds. Similar competitions are also held among robots: until now, the robot of engineers from Infeon was considered the unofficial "champion". In 2016, he solved the Rubik's Cube in 0.637 seconds. Now, however, Katz and Di Carlo have developed a robot that has improved the previous record holder by 40 percent.
Like all such devices, the researchers robot uses a camera (in this case, the PlayStation Eye), which transmits pictures of the sides of the Rubik's Cube to the computer. It determines the placement of the pieces of the puzzle, and then feeds the data to the min2phase program, which is based on Herbert Kotsemba's two-phase algorithm. In a split second, the computer calculates the optimal solution to the problem, after which it sends a command to the robot, and it moves all the elements in the right way.
To speed things up, Katz used Kollmorgen ServoDisk motors, which have a very high torque-to-inertia ratio. In addition, the engineer built a special controller that allows you to rotate the side of the Rubik's cube 90 degrees in just 10 milliseconds. Provided that the puzzle can be assembled, on average, in 19-23 moves, the robot of Katz and Di Carlo should solve the problem in 0.25 seconds. However, in reality, the process takes 0.38 seconds, since now the machine makes one movement every 15 milliseconds.
The developers are confident that in the future they will be able to improve their result. Now the tuning process is time-consuming, because debugging must be done with a high-speed camera, and mistakes sometimes lead to puzzle breakage or FET explosions. However, for a hundred different solutions, it took only 4 Rubik's cubes. The video below shows one of the unsuccessful attempts to assemble the puzzle:
Recently, programmer Martin Spanel has developed software that allows you to solve a Rubik's cube using augmented reality glasses. In real time, it displays the desired action using an AR headset directly on top of one of the faces of the cube.
Kristina Ulasovich
For the first time, the popular mechanical puzzle called the Rubik's Cube (very often mistakenly called the Rubik's Cube) became known in 1974, when the Hungarian sculptor Erno Rubik presented his creation to the world. In the original (classic version) the puzzle consisted of three rows of multi-colored cubes, consisting of 24 elements in 54 color faces. For this, the puzzle was called 3x3x3. All parts are made of plastic and can rotate around its own axis.
Each visible side of such a cube consists of 9 faces of the same color, which are random in their original state. In the future, he needs to rotate the cube around the axes until all the colors of one side come together. The game is considered over when all 6 faces of the die consist of the same color elements.
It is worth noting that today the Rubik's Cube is considered one of the most popular toys. Over the entire period from the moment of its creation, over 350 million such products have been sold in the world.
It is important to note that in the future, the Rubik's Cube received some improvements and varieties. Today, modifications are known from 2x2x2 (when you need to fold only 2 faces on each side), to 17x17x17 (this is more of a computer puzzle). Toys are also produced in the form of trapeziums, pyramids, gigaminxes and other varieties. But the most popular is still the classic version of 3x3x3.
Rubik's Cube World Records 3x3x3
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Chronology of world records Rubik's Cube 3x3x3 |
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| year 2013 | In 2013, the Dutch teenager Mets Valk managed to set another speed record for solving the classic Rubik's Cube. At the moment when all sides of this mechanical puzzle were painted in the same colors, the stopwatch recorded an unprecedented result - only 5.55 seconds. |
| 2015 | The record set by Mats Valk did not last very long. Already in April 2015, another teenager from America managed to surpass the world leader by assembling the puzzle in a record 5.25 seconds. Thus, another record was left for him. |
| 2015 | But this achievement did not last long. Already in November 2015, a teenager from America, Lucas Etter, managed to set an updated world record by collecting the classic version of the Rubik's Cube puzzle in a record 4.904 seconds. And he did it on the first try! At that time, the teenager was only 14 years old. |
| 2016 | Already in November 2016, a student from Australia, 20-year-old Felix Zemdegs, managed to set another record for collecting the classic version of the Rubik's Cube loved by everyone. He managed to "keep within" in just 4.73 seconds. |
| 2017 | But all this was not the limit of perfection. Already in the current 2017, it took American teenager Patrick Pons just 4.69 seconds to complete the classic version of the Rubik's Cube. Thus, he becomes the next champion in solving this exciting problem. |
It is not surprising that the appearance of this puzzle and a huge number of such toys in the hands of teenagers provoked an unprecedented stir, and gave impetus to competitions between them. Initially (at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries), such competitions had a relatively formal format. But with the advent of the global network, when it became possible to actually record your results live and share them with other cubers, work with this puzzle has accelerated significantly. Even informally, a time limit was set for a real super champion - namely, he must collect the classic version of the Rubik's Cube in a time interval not exceeding 10 seconds.
For the first time this milestone was overcome in May 2007 by the Frenchman Thibault Jacquelineau. During the assembly, he managed to meet the record time for that time - it took only 9.86 seconds for all the faces of the puzzle to be painted in the same colors. It is important to note that this record did not last long. He was “beaten” twice in 2007 and in 2008, and later almost sensational moments began to appear in cubing. So already in July 2008, Eric Akkersdijk sets the phenomenal speed of assembling a magic cube in the classic version at that time - it took only 7.08 seconds to complete the full assembly cycle. As an unprecedented result for that time. True, this record did not last long. It was already surpassed in 2010 with a new result of 6.77 seconds. And this is also not the limit.
Of course, 3x3x3 is the most commonly used puzzle variant in competitions, but other variations are also starting to develop gradually today. Already today, records are officially set in the nominations of high-speed assembly of puzzles with parameters 2x2x2, 4x4x4, puzzles 5x5x5, as well as 6x6x6, and with them 7x7x7 are gaining momentum. At the same time, computer developments do not stand aside, when the assembly of puzzles is entrusted to "artificial" intelligence.
To understand at what stage the competitive process is today, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with several records officially recorded to date.
Records Rubik's Cube 2x2x2
- In January 2014, the unsurpassed Australian cuber Felix Zembegs was able to please his fans with another unprecedented result in terms of the speed of solving the Rubik's Cube - he managed to correctly set the colors on all its sides in just 0.88 seconds.
- Another fairly impressive record for the speed of solving a Rubik's Cube with parameters 2x2x2 at the world championship in September 2015 was set by Lucas Etter, which took place in Nashville. It took him only 1.51 seconds to do this.
- In 2016, the new world record for solving the 2x2x2 Rubik's Cube was reached by the Pole Maciej Czapiewski, who took only 0.49 seconds to set all the faces!
Records Rubik's Cube 4x4x4
- In 2014, the fastest time to solve a 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube was recorded by the German cuber Sebastian Weier, who took just 21.97 seconds, a record at that time.
- Later, already in 2015, 19-year-old Australian Felix Zembegs managed to solve the 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube in just 4.9 seconds at competitions in China.
Speedcubers, who is it? Speedcuber is a person who solves a Rubik's Cube for speed. And basically, anyone who timed a Rubik's Cube is a speedcuber. And let his result be 40 minutes, anyway this person is a speedcuber.
However, any novice speedcuber is able to assemble this puzzle in less time. But what are real pros capable of in this business? Do you know anything about them?
The first world record was set by a 16-year-old Vietnamese-American student, Minh Thai, who was able to solve the puzzle in 22.95 seconds. This happened at the world's first speedcubing championship - World Rubik's Cube Championship 1982. This is especially impressive when you consider that the record was set not on a modern high-speed cube with magnets, but on one of the first versions of the Rubik's cube, which had a very mediocre torsion.
After that, there was a lull. Not because there were no tournaments, but because there was no organization that could streamline the results of all participants.
In 2004, this place was taken by the WCA - World Cube Association (World Cube Association). From that moment on, the results of all participants are stored in the database.
Since those distant times, records have been updated more than once. The rules and dice have changed, new disciplines have been added, and, of course, new champions have appeared.
The best in the business
One of the best speedcubers of this decade, the record holder among record holders is Felix Zemdegs. This young Aussie has already set 117 world records and holds the current world record in the 3x3x3 cube of 4.22 seconds single attempt and 5.8 seconds average over five 4x4 and 5x5 Rubik's Cubes with one hand.
His results are impressive, although he started, like all speedcubers. In 2008, when he was 12 years old, he became interested in speed cubing and began to train. By January 2010, he was the first person in the world to solve a Rubik's cube in less than 10 seconds. Since then, he has won everything and won competitions. And at the age of 17, at the World Championships, Felix proved that he is the best speedcuber in the world.
It may seem that Felix Zemdegs does not meet competition in tournaments, but this is by no means the case. It has many competitors from different countries.
One of his main competitors is Max Park. The American athlete already has 12 world records. Of course, after the results of Felix, this is not so impressive, but if you go deeper, each of them is amazing.
What is his record for the average time of five assemblies of the Rubik's Cube with one hand. He was the first in the world to do this in less than 10 seconds. He also holds the records in the 6x6 and 7x7 dice, both in a single assembly, and in the average time of five assemblies, as well as in the average time on a 4x4 dice.
And the next record holder is known not only for his records - Mats Falk (this is how his surname is read from Dutch). His last name began to be mentioned many times more after he signed a contract with QiYi MoFangGe, one of the world's top brands. Their flagship model was named after him, you all know about this cube yourself - it is now one of the best.
Mats was able to set 5 world records. But the most offensive situation happened to him at the Jawa Timur Open 2016 tournament. It was there that he set a world record of 4.74 seconds, but not for long. A little later, at the same competition, Felix Zemdegs made an assembly of 4.73 and broke Mats' record.
And from Kevin Hayes, Max Park took all the records, not only world, but also national, because they are both from the USA. Still, Kevin was the first person in the world to complete a 7x7 cube in less than 2 minutes, and he has already set 20 world records.
Moreover, Yuksin is cooperating with the American. They want to name a 7x7 cube in his honor, and maybe even a whole series of large cubes. And since Yuksin knows how to make fast and high-quality puzzles, the series will undoubtedly turn out to be chic.
It may seem that all the best speedcubers are abroad, but this is not so. There are many worthy speedcubers in our country.
For example, Dmitry Dobryakov. It is he who holds the Russian record for solving the Rubik's Cube both in a single attempt and in the average time. And it is he who will represent Russia at the Red Bull Rubik's Cube World Championship in Boston.
And at one time the whole world recognized the name of Vladislav Shavelsky, who set two world records in such a discipline as assembling a 7x7x7 cube. He also set 13 European records and 27 Russian records in disciplines from 4x4x4 to 7x7x7. He still holds the Russian records for 5x5x5 and 7x7x7 cubes.
Or Roman Strakhov, who has repeatedly set world and European records for solving the Rubik's Cube 5x5x5 blindly. He now ranks third in the world in this discipline.
Also, Russian speedcubing knows the name of Dmitry Kryuzban, who set 60 Russian records and even a European record.
Every year we discover new names and faces that bring Russian speedcubing to the world level. Some of them are close to national records or have already achieved them: Alexey Zharikov, Artem Ganzha, Andrey Che and many others.
How to reach a professional level in speedcubing?
But how to achieve such results? Is it even possible to catch up with such speedcubing mastodons? And how to do it?
Of course, such results are achieved after many years of training. But everyone has different abilities and approaches to training, so there is no universal method.
There are so many different assembly methods: the Jessica Friedrich method, the Roux method, ZZ and many others. Try different formulas, ways of training and you will find the one that suits you.
And no matter how much you know the formulas, do not stop. Each new formula improves your skill.
But no matter what method you use, you definitely need to learn the Look ahead technique, literally “look ahead”. The bottom line is to think through all your movements in advance.
To train it, you need to use this type of training as slow turn, that is, specifically collect the cube slowly and see all the movements of the elements.
At the Australian Cup, which was held at the University of Melbourne, 14-year-old Australian Felix Zemdegs managed to complete the Rubik's Cube in just 6.77 seconds. Thanks to this achievement, the Australian teenager was listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
The previous world record for the fastest Rubik's cube was set by the Dutchman Erik Akkersdijk in 2008.
But the most surprising thing is that on the same day that the Australian Feliks Zemdegs set a new world record, the same competition was held in the state of Massachusetts as at the University of Melbourne. And at the competition in Massachusetts, 19-year-old contestant Rowe Hessler also broke the Dutchman's world record! But he lacked only 0.17 seconds to overtake the 14-year-old Australian.
Rowe Hessler accepted his defeat with dignity and is convinced that the record of the Australian teenager will hold on for a very long time. Rowe Hessler considers it a shame for himself that he solved the Rubik's Cube in 6.94 seconds, literally a couple of hours later than Feliks Zemdegs. Also, the 19-year-old contestant believes that the Australian honestly deserved the right to be a champion and worthy of being the God of all Rubik's cubes, because he has tremendous speed and extraordinary reflexes.
The record holder's father is now very proud of his son. Only now did he understand why his son spent hours building the Rubik's Cube at home. His training was long and daily, but his efforts and perseverance were not in vain.
And here is a video of Felix solving a Rubik's Cube: