This worked just fine for Connor, who says he wrote his own program using the C++ computer programming language to get the OPTIQTM solver to work with his system. Connor's robot, like Benedettelli's, uses a Web camera to read the Cube's different colors (and their configuration on the scrambled Cube), data that is then sent to the puzzle-solving software.

Cube enthusiasts have been building robots for years to solve the puzzle, and it is common for them to learn from one another's work. One of the earliest examples of a Rubik's Cube-solving bot was created by Jonathan Brown, 45, an archaeological conservator at Chicago's Field Museum, in 2001 using an earlier version of Mindstorm.

Although Connor benefited from the work of several other Cube enthusiasts as well, his programming abilities have raised eyebrows. Connor "was quite evidently a masterful C++ programmer," says Robert Thompson, a 19-year-old University of Delaware sophomore studying computer science who taught Connor about Java during a weeklong computer camp earlier this month. "He started right off talking about things in C++ that they haven't even covered in my college courses."

How did Connor's robot do in its showdown against Ryan? Despite Connor's hard work, the bot's best time was 90 seconds, good enough to beat Ryan only once out of five times. Ryan's best time during the head-to-circuit competitions was 75 seconds, although Connor says his brother has since trimmed that to 45 seconds. (A video of the robot's victory is available via YouTube, as is a video of Ryan's revenge.)

Connor, who taught himself to program by reading books such as Sams Teach Yourself C in 21 Days, written by Bradley Jones and Peter Aitken, is hardly discouraged. He is now writing his own Cube-solving software to eventually replace Kociemba's in his system. The reason "I want to use my algorithm instead of somebody else's is because of it's complexity," he says, "and being able to say that I wrote a version of it."

10 Comments

1. 1. lamorpa 01:15 PM 7/17/09

   Looks like the kid is an expert systems integrator: "...discovered a robot via the Web that was built from a single NXT kit by Daniele Benedettelli...", "...used a freely available cube-solving program called Optimal Cube Solver..." Nice job.

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2. 2. hotblack 01:33 PM 7/17/09

   Awesome.

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3. 3. Iron25 01:32 AM 7/18/09

   amzing!!! very much!!! i admire that boy...
   

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4. 4. Iron25 01:35 AM 7/18/09

   It is realy amazing.. That boy, he is still at his young age. However, he is very intelligent.. Two thumbs up!!!!
   

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5. 5. Iron25 in reply to hotblack 01:36 AM 7/18/09

   you're right!! awesome!!!

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6. 6. betolaura 07:08 PM 7/23/09

   what a story... an example of being great today and the future possibilities that will open up in the future for both... an inspiration to many...

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7. 7. murray2@cox.net 12:51 PM 7/24/09

   This,on top of the story about the girl who diagnosed her own illness (with the help of her AP Bio prof.). Kids are clever if we let them be.

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8. 8. JCTIII 11:03 PM 9/16/09

   It looks like the kid has good gentics. That is very impressive. Good for him.
   http://www.beckthomas.com

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9. 9. Rgeier 05:16 PM 10/21/09

   This is the same system my son and his FIRST LEGO League teammates are using in this year's competition. They are programming it, with the help of their National Instruments and IBM mentors, to solve the missions on a challenge mat. Very inspiring!

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10. 10. Shikhin 09:46 AM 3/13/10

    Hi,
    I am 11 years old and from India. Well Heads Up For That Great Boy. Well I am younger to him as he is I think 13 this year.
    
    Well I am too intelligent. I am learning C, though I am not a complete master in it. I am also learning HTML and Java planning to build a revenue earning website ( My sources will be Ad-sense and Affiliate Marketing). My main aim to build my site is so that I can earn enough to buy components for my future projects like buying NXT.
    
    If anyone wants to contact me here is my email:
    khatoo_methoo@hotmail.com
    I love comments ( especially on me ) to me but since I am not going to visit this site again I am requesting you all to mail me. PLEASE
    

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