A group of Purdue engineering student built a lightning fast robot, Purdubik’s Cube, that now holds the Guinness World Record in solving a Rubik’s Cube within 0.103 seconds.
Using co-op experience, personal inspiration, university support, and industrial hardware, the students created a robotic system that is so fast, it finishes before you blink.
Record Breaking Speed: Redefining the Puzzle Solving Process
For many people, solving a Rubik’s Cube can be a challenging task. For a group at Purdue University of engineering students, it was a chance to make history and push the limits of speed, accuracy, and automation.
The team’s creation, called Purdubik’s Cube is a lightning-fast robot system that holds the Guinness World Record.
The robot completed the task within 0.103 seconds. This is faster than a blink of an eye and nearly three times quicker than the previous record set by engineers in Japan 2024 of 0.305 seconds.
This team, which included Junpei Ota and Aden Hurd along with Matthew Patrohay and Alex Berta, did more than break a record. They were officially recognized by Guinness World Records as a result of their engineering feat.
Engineering Friendship – The Team Behind the Bot.
It wasn’t a high tech lab that started this story. Purdue’s Cooperative Education Program was the first step, which connected students with real-world experience in industry. It was there that team members Hurd Ota and Patrohay met for the first time. Hurd said that the co-op programme brought together his team. It helped us develop not only the friendships which led to this collaboration but also the technical and professional skills that we needed to pull it off. Their hands-on experience also helped them secure sponsorships to bring to life their ambitious idea. Patrohay’s dream began even earlier.
He said, “I always say my inspiration is a former world record holder.” “In high school, I watched a video of
MIT
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MIT students solve the cube in 380 microseconds. I thought that was a cool project. I’d like to beat it one day. Now I’m at Purdue, proving we can go faster.”
This system uses machine vision to recognize colors, custom solving algorithms that are optimized for execution times, and industrial-grade hardware from Kollmorgen for motion control. Each move is executed using finely tuned motion profiles that maximize acceleration, deceleration, and mechanical efficiency. This results in precisely coordinated submillisecond control.
Purdue’s Institute for Control, Optimization and Networks, (ICON) co-sponsored the project. Shreyas Sunderam, Marie Gordon Professor and co-director at ICON, believes that the project is part of Purdue’s long tradition of innovation in engineering.
Sundaram said that Purdue researchers have been designing control system since the Apollo program. Purdue’s Purdubik’s Cube team is a great example of how Purdue brings together algorithms, robotics and control to achieve great feats in engineering.
Scramble and solve in real time
This team also designed the experience as interactive. The “Smart Cube” is Bluetooth-enabled, allowing users to scramble the puzzles in real time. The robot then mirrors each move and solves the cube immediately once the scramble has been completed. The project is a culmination years of collaboration and learning.
Patrohay said, “What I love about it is the senior design allowed us bring together all we’ve learned.” “From your freshman year, you build skills. But this project showed how all of them come together to create a meaningful thing.”
Human Blink vs. Robot Speed
It defies comprehension.
Patrohay stated, “We solve in just 103 milliseconds.” “A human blink lasts between 200 and 300 milliseconds.” Nak-seung Patrick Hyun is an assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering. He mentored the team of students.
Hyun said, “This achievement doesn’t just break a record; it pushes boundaries of what synthetic system can do.” It brings us closer towards understanding ultra-fast coordinated systems found in nature.
Milind Kulikarni, Michael Birck Head and Professor at Purdue ECE says that the project is an example of the school’s commitment to hands on learning and technical excellence.
Kulkarni said, “Give brilliant students the tools and opportunities and they will blow your mind.” Four undergraduate ECE students in less than a calendar year broke a record held by a world class team at Mitsubishi. This is proof that we have the best ECE student in the country. I couldn’t possibly be more proud.”
Purdubik’s Cube, whether it’s breaking records, demonstrating machine-intelligence, or inspiring the future generation of engineers, is more than just a fast robot. It’s a symbol of innovation for Purdue. Subscribe to SciTechDaily’s newsletter and never miss a breakthrough.
