Timbercrest Student Builds Robot to Solve Rubik’s Cube

A silver lining to these unprecedented times is the creativity and innovation that is abundant. 

Timbercrest eighth grader Zackery Woods is a prime example of this. With more time at home, Woods used creative problem solving to construct a robot that solves a Rubik’s Cube. 

Last semester Woods took robotics as an elective and his teacher taught the class how to build many creative things with the ev3 robotic platform. Using this knowledge, Woods challenged himself to create something.

“I thought about a project I could do to fill the time with schools closed and baseball on hold,” said Woods. “I found this program called the Lego Rubik's Cube solver.”

The machine is a multi-functioning Rubik's Cube pro. It can create designs such as a checkerboard, a box inside a box and a snake. 

“I researched online to find the red, green, blue values (R,G,B) code, downloaded it and programmed it on to the ev3,” said Woods. “This machine is so amazing, it scans the colors and calculates the solve under two minutes.” 

With help from his dad, it took Woods four hours to assemble. 

“This project taught me that there is always another way to do something that seems complicated. I plan on exploring some of the other cool things you can do with ev3 to keep busy and make the best use of the time I have at home.”