Hopkinton Firm Develops Puzzling Robot
The staff at Caliper Life Sciences in Hopkinton is used to working on some very serious projects, like developing microchips to test new biological drugs and improving how animal testing is done. But for a lab automation trade show this January, a couple of them got a chance to return to a favorite childhood game.
The company decided to highlight its technical abilities by building a machine to scan and analyze the color patterns on a Rubik's cube and then solve the puzzle.
Bill Thompson, strategic systems development manager for Caliper, said the project required much of the same technology that the company uses in designing ways to automate lab processes. One difference was that the Rubik's cube project had "no budget."
So, he said, software engineer Cliff Huie bought a Web cam from Best Buy and downloaded free image software to help the machine recognize colors and shapes.
"He really put together the logic part about detecting the colors and wrote the software behind it," Thompson said.
In the end, the company came up with a machine that can manage a 24-move solution to the puzzle in about five minutes. That's not nearly as fast as human Rubik's champions can do it, but the robot captivated people at the trade show, who Thompson said stood three or four deep to watch it go.
Today, visitors to the company can still see the machine do its trick. And Thompson said the project was a nice challenge for Huie and him.
"We had a great time doing it," he said. "A lot of fun."
Check this video of the Rubik's Cube Robot in action:
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