THE Rubik’s cube and Lego are two of the best known names in toy history.

And the pair have now been brought together by students at West Suffolk College who have built a robot out of Lego which can reliably solve a jumbled Rubik’s Cube in less than two minutes.

The students at the Bury St Edmunds-based college took their inspiration from the Mind-Cuber design by David Gilday, Principal Engineer at the Cambridge-based ARM.

However, the challenge set for the college team was to improve its electro-mechanical reliability. Computing students were introduced to the mathematics involved in solving the Rubik Cube and how these concepts could be used in a programming context.

Mr Gilday’s work was then reviewed to see how his design uses this mathematical theory in practice.

Once the programming was implemented on Gilday’s original model, mechatronics students were asked to look at how the electro-mechanical stability of the device could be improved.

Lecturer Ian Newman said: “The result is an impressive little gadget that can solve a Rubik Cube in as little as two minutes.

“It is fascinating to watch, and this project has proved a great opportunity for our students to review and refine the original work.

“They have shown a great deal of skill and ingenuity.”

The machine, which has its own power supply system designed by students, first scans the cube to see where all the different coloured squares are and then uses maths to work out the solution.

Once it has finished scanning, it gets to work twisting the various sections before showing off the completed cube.

The West Suffolk College Mind-Cuber build will be on display all day at The Big Bang Event (Eastern) at The Imperial War Museum, Duxford on July 4.