Do you support the idea of the Gan robot?

[GAN 356 X]

Over the last few days, many threads have been posted on GAN's new product, a robot to solve and scramble a 3x3. So to see the cubing community's general overview on the matter, I have made a poll above

My argument is that as it is only compatible with the gan I, it is a pretty pointless idea.

1. Why would a beginner have a gan cube?

2. if Gan continues along this road they will begin to lack support from the cubing community

3. it will probably cost a firtune

4. scrambling a cube doesn't take that long

5. It only supports the Gan I

6. Putting in and taking out the cube would take longer than scrambling it normally

Overall, I think it is a waste of money and time, although if you are extremely rich it could be useful in that you don't have to scramble cubes (or rather cube, very expensive cube). Over time though, I think these robots might be able to replace scramblers if they become cheaper and more available to the public, and become compatible with other cube models and types, such as big cubes, Pyraminx, and megaminx.


You can find the other threads here:
https://www.speedsolving.com/threads/gans-new-product-a-scrambler-perhaps.74979/

https://www.speedsolving.com/threads/upcoming-puzzles.68830/

 

[Fukuoka Kengo James]

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[Iwannaganx]

Right now it might not be great, as it only supports the gan I. But if they can make this work for all 3x3s it will be revolutionary, and if they can make it for big cubes as well they will establish dominance in the non-cube-cubing-products area

 

[Zain_A24]

It's questionable what sort of audience they are aiming this product at. I doubt beginner speedsolvers will go for a GAN.

 

[Competition Cuber]

I forget where, but somebody made a really good point about the robot in another thread. They basically said that if this could be paired with tnoodle and was relatively quick with scrambling, this could be amazing for competitions, especially for doing big cubes.

 

[Iwannaganx]

I forget where, but somebody made a really good point about the robot in another thread. They basically said that if this could be paired with tnoodle and was relatively quick with scrambling, this could be amazing for competitions, especially for doing big cubes.

Yeah, but at the moment for only 3x3 it's ok, and only for gan i

 

[Competition Cuber]

Yeah, but at the moment for only 3x3 it's ok, and only for gan i

It's a beta product imo. Once it improves, it will only get better. And it doesn't have to be the gan robot, but other companies can do similar too.

EDIT: Here is the post I was talking about earlier:

This could be revolutionary. Imagine one of these that could scramble a cube in ~2 seconds, how much that could help WCA competitions. If they somehow figured out how to make them for higher-order cubes, that would make things even better. It doesn't look like too big of a machine from this video, so they might end up being *relatively* cheap as well.
If this is even a scrambler, that is.

 

[GAN 356 X]

It's a beta product imo. Once it improves, it will only get better. And it doesn't have to be the gan robot, but other companies can do similar too.

EDIT: Here is the post I was talking about earlier:

Relatively cheap fir Gan is 50 USD lol. I am guessing the Robot will be somewhere around the price of the gan I, maybe more. I have no idea though.

 

[SM cubing]

people saying a beginner wont go for a gan cube forget about the 50 second solvers thinking a gan will make them sub 7 lol

 

[GAN 356 X]

people saying a beginner wont go for a gan cube forget about the 50 second solvers thinking a gan will make them sub 7 lol

Or rather shouldn't go for a gan cube, but probably will. Jperm once said in one of his videos that you should get a cheap option when you start out because when you get better, better hardware will be out

 

[Mike Hughey]

The main issue with robotics these days is usually cost. If a robot is replacing a paid human and can do an equivalent job, it almost always pays off to build the robot. But scrambling cubes is currently done on a volunteer basis at competitions, and there's no reason we can't require that indefinitely. A scrambling robot would have to be VERY inexpensive to be used commonly at cubing competitions.

 

[xyzzy]

This specific Gan robot seems useless to me, but I really like the general idea of a scrambling robot. Imagine never getting misscrambles in comp. If you do a solve and get a good time, you know the organisers aren't going to have to check video footage and then replace it with an extra because it was a misscramble.

On 5×5×5 and 5BLD using scramble bots could also help to reduce scrambling times, since these use the longest scrambles (60 moves) that have to be correctly applied.

 

[Competition Cuber]

The main issue with robotics these days is usually cost. If a robot is replacing a paid human and can do an equivalent job, it almost always pays off to build the robot. But scrambling cubes is currently done on a volunteer basis at competitions, and there's no reason we can't require that indefinitely. A scrambling robot would have to be VERY inexpensive to be used commonly at cubing competitions.

Or maybe not use it for smaller and local comps, but reserve it for nats/worlds/continental championships. They could even be used in tandem with volunteer scramblers, and could reduce either the number of volunteers/staff needed or perhaps even just reduce the load placed on those scramblers, especially for MBLD.

 

[aerocube]

you could race the robot by using a different cube w/ the same scramble
this thing seems pretty much useless though,3x3 scrambles take very little time

 

[PapaSmurf]

This has only one practical application: competition scrambling. It means that one person can effectively scramble however many cubes at once. Otherwise, it's a waste of money, stops people from being able to read notation properly (therefore it targets the wrong audience of beginners as they need to learn it) and it takes probably less time for me to scramble a 3x3 than this. So it's not going to help anyone with a price of $50. Instead Gan could invest into a good cube for a reasonable price (maybe even a clock or something different). Also, only working with the Gani. Like what? At least make it compatible with recent Gan cubes.

 

[GAN 356 X]

This has only one practical application: competition scrambling. It means that one person can effectively scramble however many cubes at once. Otherwise, it's a waste of money, stops people from being able to read notation properly (therefore it targets the wrong audience of beginners as they need to learn it) and it takes probably less time for me to scramble a 3x3 than this. So it's not going to help anyone with a price of $50. Instead Gan could invest into a good cube for a reasonable price (maybe even a clock or something different). Also, only working with the Gani. Like what? At least make it compatible with recent Gan cubes.

I think they ought to make a 5x5 next, or an updated version fo the gan 460, perhaps a new 4x4 altogether like they did with 2x2

 

[GAN 356 X]

This specific Gan robot seems useless to me, but I really like the general idea of a scrambling robot. Imagine never getting misscrambles in comp. If you do a solve and get a good time, you know the organisers aren't going to have to check video footage and then replace it with an extra because it was a misscramble.

On 5×5×5 and 5BLD using scramble bots could also help to reduce scrambling times, since these use the longest scrambles (60 moves) that have to be correctly applied.

Longer than 6x6 and 7x7?

 

[Fukuoka Kengo James]

 

[Tabe]

Now available on the Gan store - $95

 

[VarasanoNotOrtega]

First time poster
Longtime cuber

I have thought about somehow makiing something like this since 2004 and I will definitely buy one.
Back in the day the cubes were hard to turn, and using 80s cubes literally gave me arthritis.
It may sound ridiculous to some, but I think this thing is going to make a lot of money.