Balccuber patent

Patent

The BallCuber mechanism is patented.

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How it works

The machine is made of :

  • 1 x 3D printed sphere
  • 9 x stepper motors NEMA 17
  • 9 x magnetic encoders
  • 9 x 3D printed planetary gears
  • 54 x 3D printed internal parts
  • Magnets, screws, small pieces, ...

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Hardware

The hardware cabinet is made of :

  • 2 x Arduino Mega (using Multistepper and Sharer libraries)
  • 2 x Ramps 1.4
  • 9 x stepper drivers
  • Sub-D50 wire and connectors
  • a lot of wires !
  • Power supply
  • USB hub

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Software

A .NET Winforms desktop software drives the robot :

  • Image processing to get cube initial state
  • Real time 3D visualization with twisty.js & alg.js
  • 4x4x4 cube solver (Three Phase Reduction Solver)
  • Runner that sequences the resolution
  • Sharer.NET to communicate with Arduino boards

Sources on GitHub

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Camera scanner

The scan tower allows to get images from the cube. A custom algorithm that uses OpenCV allows to identify facets color.

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3D printing

Most parts are 3D printed with an Ultimaker 3D printer and PLA material.

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Next Steps !

To claim the world record, we have to solve the cube faster than 00:01:18s !

Current average resolution time is about

00:03:20s

Here is what we need to improve it :

  • More accurate 3D printing

    Our current prototype has too much cutting clearance which sometimes causes collision. For next version, parts should have a 0.05mm print precision.

  • Faster motors

    The resolution time is about 3min30s. The limit is due to the slow stepper motors. To be fast, we would like to use industrial brushless motors.

  • Comment on Reddit

    4x4x4 Rubik's Cube solving robot from r/Cubers
  • Article on Arduino blog

    Rubik’s cubes are traditionally 3x3x3, and have been solved by robotic systems in a variety of different ways. But what about a 4x4x4 variant? Such a device presents expanded solving challenges, which creators Thibault and Florent were able to address with their BallCuber contraption...

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We need you !

If you are interested in this project, or want to help us, do not hesitate to contact us !