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I'm happy to present you my newest creation. It's a fully operational 3x3x3 Rubik cube. I had the idea for this since some time and the new 'ghost' rails made it possible.It would be possible with the solid ones, but these require some additional logic and rails on the edges. Anyways:
The Structure:
Modes:
The Remote:
Admin/Debug/Cheat controls
The blueprint is available here: Rubik Blueprint
WARNING: NERD^3 CONTENT!
The Structure:
The Rubik Platform blueprint has two mounted entities: the Rubik Core and the Rubik Remote. The core is a cubic (of course) body and as such it has 6 sides. They follow the standard coloring and orientation of IRL Rubik cubes. IRL the top/bottom/left/right notation is used for the sides. Here the sides are marked by the color of their center cubie: white, red, blue, yellow, orange and green. When a side is being 'rotated' its 8 edge and corner cubies travel along rails, the center rotates just for decorative purpose. The centers are not important actually since they cannot move.
The remote is a tiny craft with some wireless controls for the cube. It's added for easier observation and control of the cube. The footage above is from it.
The remote is a tiny craft with some wireless controls for the cube. It's added for easier observation and control of the cube. The footage above is from it.
There are 2 modes of operation: Classic and Half. In classic mode, all rotations are 90 degrees. This way edges and corners don't shuffle. Any methods and formulas from the real cubes apply here. Just keep in mind that side are designated by colors, not orientation.
In the half mode, rotations are 2 types: side rotations (45 deg.) and corner rotation (90 deg.). The 45 deg. side rotation changes edges to corners and vice versa. The corner rotation rotates the corners only while cubies remain in position. The half mode is not possible IRL (at least with the cube models I know of).
In the half mode, rotations are 2 types: side rotations (45 deg.) and corner rotation (90 deg.). The 45 deg. side rotation changes edges to corners and vice versa. The corner rotation rotates the corners only while cubies remain in position. The half mode is not possible IRL (at least with the cube models I know of).
The remote is used to play with the cube while being capable to fly around it. It contains the following wireless controls attached:
1-6 [1]: Select side: White (1), Red (2), Blue (3), Yellow (4), Orange (5) and Green (6).
7 [1]: empty;
8 [1]: Rotate the selected side;
9 [1]: Rotate the selected side's corners (possible only in Half mode);
0 [1]: Change rotation direction: clockwise/ counter clockwise;
1 [2]: Change mode: classic/half;
2 [2]: Docker
Inner ship remotes 1-6 act as a radio button group: selecting one will deselect the others. The other controls are like check boxes. When a side is selected the light in its center cubie is activated. The ambient light in the remote also changes color accordingly. You can see above how the vertical columns (which are white) are lit first with green and later with orange light.
After the side required is selected it can be rotated with the inner remotes 8 (and 9 for the corner if in half mode). If inner remote 0 is highlighted, the side (or the corners only) will rotate clockwise. To change rotation activate remote 0 and it will toggle highlight to indicate CCW. When a side rotates, it's light will blink. I've done my best to fool-proof all controls, but it's generally not recommended to issue commands while a light is blinking.
To change the mode of the cube, go to tab 2 of the remote's ship controls and activate control 1. When it is highlighted, the cube is in classic mode.
1-6 [1]: Select side: White (1), Red (2), Blue (3), Yellow (4), Orange (5) and Green (6).
7 [1]: empty;
8 [1]: Rotate the selected side;
9 [1]: Rotate the selected side's corners (possible only in Half mode);
0 [1]: Change rotation direction: clockwise/ counter clockwise;
1 [2]: Change mode: classic/half;
2 [2]: Docker
Inner ship remotes 1-6 act as a radio button group: selecting one will deselect the others. The other controls are like check boxes. When a side is selected the light in its center cubie is activated. The ambient light in the remote also changes color accordingly. You can see above how the vertical columns (which are white) are lit first with green and later with orange light.
After the side required is selected it can be rotated with the inner remotes 8 (and 9 for the corner if in half mode). If inner remote 0 is highlighted, the side (or the corners only) will rotate clockwise. To change rotation activate remote 0 and it will toggle highlight to indicate CCW. When a side rotates, it's light will blink. I've done my best to fool-proof all controls, but it's generally not recommended to issue commands while a light is blinking.
To change the mode of the cube, go to tab 2 of the remote's ship controls and activate control 1. When it is highlighted, the cube is in classic mode.
The remote is not required to control the cube. All the functions above are available manually (best done in build mode). Inside the cube there are some extra functions:
Shake selected side: will undock all the cubies on the selected side. After the docking cooldown they will snap again in positions. Note that this will likely reset their orientations. Useful when some cubies start to lag behind their neighbors as a reset button. Beware: if the cubies were totally out of position they might fly away. In such a case, you have to enter them and pilot them manually.
Toggle plex: the entire structure has like 10k plex blocks to hide it's logics and give the eye some place to rest. There are several buttons to open/close inside and outside plex doors.
These controls are inside the cube behind its green side. You may need to manually open some plex to find them.
Rotate individually: On each side of the cube there are 8 buttons. Pressing any of these will rotate the corresponding cubie CCW in the plane of the side. These are like cheats for solving the cube. The button to rotate the center cubie is inside it, behind the colored light and plex.
Shake selected side: will undock all the cubies on the selected side. After the docking cooldown they will snap again in positions. Note that this will likely reset their orientations. Useful when some cubies start to lag behind their neighbors as a reset button. Beware: if the cubies were totally out of position they might fly away. In such a case, you have to enter them and pilot them manually.
Toggle plex: the entire structure has like 10k plex blocks to hide it's logics and give the eye some place to rest. There are several buttons to open/close inside and outside plex doors.
These controls are inside the cube behind its green side. You may need to manually open some plex to find them.
Rotate individually: On each side of the cube there are 8 buttons. Pressing any of these will rotate the corresponding cubie CCW in the plane of the side. These are like cheats for solving the cube. The button to rotate the center cubie is inside it, behind the colored light and plex.
The blueprint is available here: Rubik Blueprint
