Student-Built Robot Shatters Rubik’s Cube World Record
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A robot built by undergraduate students from Indiana’s Purdue University has solved a Rubik’s Cube in an incredible 0.103 seconds. This is about twice as fast as an average human blink. Named "Purdubik’s Cube," it claimed a new Guinness World Record for the "Fastest robot to solve a rotating puzzle cube" on April 21, 2025. The previous record was held by a robot built in Japan by Mitsubishi Motors engineers in 2024. It completed the task in 0.305 seconds.
The robot's record-breaking speed can be attributed to powerful hardware combined with clever programming. Purdubik’s Cube sits in a custom 3D-printed case that keeps it locked in place, while six strong motors twist the sides with speed and precision. The cube is reinforced to handle the rapid movements without cracking.
On the software side, the robot uses a cube-solving algorithm that lets it turn multiple sides at once, shaving off precious seconds. Two high-speed cameras scan the cube’s colors in just 10 microseconds. Instead of analyzing full images, the robot reads raw color data, helping it plan its moves even faster.
The team, led by Matthew Patrohay, initially created the robot in December 2024 for the Spark Challenge, a design competition at Purdue’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. After winning the event, they decided to optimize its performance further and try for the world record. The rest, as they say, is history.
"I always say that my inspiration was a previous world record holder," said Patrohay. "Back in high school, I saw a video of MIT students solving the cube in 380 milliseconds. I thought, 'That’s a really cool project. I’d love to try and beat it someday.' Now here I am at Purdue—proving we can go even faster."
Resources: NBCnews.com, engineering.purdue.com, guinnessworldrecords.com
