#Runix cube series#

In late 2018, a Japanese YouTube channel called Human Controller even developed its own self-solving Rubik’s cube using a 3D-printed core attached to programmable servo motors. Two years later, a machine developed by MIT solved a cube in less than 0.4 seconds. That crushed the sub-five-second human world record at the time. In 2016, semiconductor maker Infineon developed a robot specifically to solve a Rubik’s cube at superhuman speeds, and the bot managed to do so in under one second.

#Runix cube series#

Welinder is referencing a series of robots over the last few years that have pushed Rubik’s cube solving far beyond the limitations of human hands and minds. Similar to how humans and how our human hands can do a lot of things, not just a specific task, we’re trying to build something that is much more general in its scope.” We’re trying to build a general purpose robot. The robotics team at OpenAI have very different ambitions. “Obviously there’s no way you can use the same robot or same approach to perform another task. The important difference between what they did there and what we’re doing here is that those robots are very purpose-built,” says Peter Welinder, a research scientist and robotics lead at OpenAI. “Plenty of robots can solve Rubik’s cubes very fast. It’s somewhat unsettling to see in action, if only because the movements look noticeably less fluid than human ones and especially disjointed when compared to the blinding speed and raw dexterity on display when a human speedcuber solves the cube in a matter of seconds.īut for OpenAI, Dactyl’s achievement brings it one step closer to a much sought-after goal for the broader AI and robotics industries: a robot that can learn to perform a variety of real-world tasks, without having to train for months to years of real-world time and without needing to be specifically programmed.

It takes many minutes, but Dactyl is eventually able to solve the puzzle.

In a demonstration video showcasing Dactyl’s new talent, we can see the robotic hand fumble its way toward a complete cube solve with clumsy yet accurate maneuvers. OpenAI sees the feat as a leap forward both for the dexterity of robotic appendages and its own AI software, which allows Dactyl to learn new tasks using virtual simulations before it is presented with a real, physical challenge to overcome. The group’s robotics division says Dactyl, its humanoid robotic hand first developed last year, has learned to solve a Rubik’s cube one-handed. Artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI has achieved a new milestone in its quest to build general purpose, self-learning robots.