Random Cubing Discussion

[ben1996123]

[noparse]

[/noparse]

._.

 

[qqwref]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqJF3tKDnrA

Well that was a waste of time. I would have been a lot more impressed if they had replaced the 20 seconds of random editing with an actual realtime solve. Why bother producing a video like that when the vast majority of people don't have the time and money to fly to some random conference to see the thing in person?

 

[Kirjava]

It looks fast though. I imagine it averages at least sub10.

 

[Tim Major]

As I don't have access to the private forum, I will argue, or agree here, sure out of place, but that's what happens when such restrictions are made.

2. sheet of paper to block the timer. Some people like to have a small sheet of paper on the timer to not be distracted by the blinking lights or the time itself to check break-down times for example. Currently not allowed.

I don't mind which way this goes, I don't think it would change things, maybe some people see it as helping, or you could just, not look? If it's unfair to remove the flashing light, are you saying a next brace, which physically doesn't allow you to look down at the timer would be unfair? Strange example/bad argument, sure, but I think it's strange to have a ban on a little piece of paper, as long as it doesn't hinder the judge. I think it's a bad idea to have in magic/master magic, the judge can't tell if it's been stopped early or later, often in master magic the competitor's hands are low. This shouldn't be a problem as there's no checking for break downs in master magic. The display lags behind, so it will always finish after the competitor, so for such events it shouldn't be covered.
I am no a strong believer for either side here.

3. listening to music during solving. Blocks out noise, and might get you in a nice rythm for solving. Currently not allowed.

At many venues there is music playing, so if your argument for feet is that at venues with carpet they have an advantage, and should be allowed to replicate the conditions if available, isn't the music replicating? The only issue here would be if someone couldn't remember parity for a big cube, and decided to loop it and pass it off as their music. Again, I don't use music to help my solves, so I don't mind if this is passed or not.

4. Bringing your own airconditioning or lamp: changing the present environment provided by the organization. Currently not allowed.

This seems ridiculous, and I didn't realise it wasn't allowed (who would seriously do this every competition) but at one competition in Melbourne it was high 30s low 40s celcius, and people were asked to bring in fans from home if they had them. They were not set up to gush into a competitors face, but likewise with feet, isn't this just a measure to make conditions less varied? Some venues have fans on the roof, does this mean those venues can't be used? I've never seen or heard about lamps being used, but some venues have horrible lighting, so surely they'd be allowed, as long as not obstructing the judge's view, or annoying other competitors.

5. Bring a second stackmat, to put under the normal mat to provide more elasticity in the surface. It helps during feet and compensates for the competitions where there is a carpet, rubber or any other non hard-as-concrete floor. Currently not allowed (though it has been done and apparently been approved by delegates).

Seems fair to me for all reasons I've stated above.

Any strange rules, or unclear rules should be delegates discretion. Our comps now always have 2 delegates, because Dene has moved to Melbourne, so if ever there are rules we are unsure about, we have two delegates to express their ideas.

This is probably the only reason I am against the private forum (excluding the fact I can't post there) is that threads that I feel should've been made public are put there instead. You don't have to specialise in any field to give a logical opinion on this. I have been involved in the organisation and running (no, not solely, as part of a team) all of the Australian competitions.

- are the current regulations (especially A5b) written in a way that clearly states which of the unwanted or unfair things are to blocked out, and the ok-things approved?

It's definitely unclear, and if I had to judge off A5b I would say no to all things mentioned. I don't think there should be a list of accepted things, as that would be subjective and change. It should say something like "anything to help make conditions neutral, as to delegates discretion should be allowed".

 

[Kirjava]

olol you're implying that background music everyone can hear and music played personally on an mp3 player are the same thing

 

[bobthegiraffemonkey]

Got a couple of responses to my last one, hope people like it. Not so many this time. New execution for G perms (I think), I found out inverse standard V perm is good, and couple of other things.

 

[IAssemble]

Well that was a waste of time. I would have been a lot more impressed if they had replaced the 20 seconds of random editing with an actual realtime solve. Why bother producing a video like that when the vast majority of people don't have the time and money to fly to some random conference to see the thing in person?

Judging by the description there may be a follow up video soon... ;-)

 

[IAssemble]

It looks fast though. I imagine it averages at least sub10.

I probably shouldn't say this yet but... yes, CubeStormer II averages well under sub10! Keep a look out for the next video

 

[y235]

Interesting idea, but it's pretty awkward to do a solve like that...

Here's one: tripod LL on the Megaminx. You just build a 2x3 block on U before you insert your last pair, then put in the last pair without disturbing it. You now have 3 corners and 2 edges left; the 3 corners are either misoriented in some way or in some kind of 3-cycle, and the 2 edges are either solved or flipped. So there are 54 cases, which isn't all that bad, and if you use a quick alg to orient edges (you can do it while you're inserting that F2L pair) you are left with either a nice 3-cycle or a corner orientation alg. Pretty spiffy.

what about the cases when you have 2 2-cycles?

 

[MaeLSTRoM]

what about the cases when you have 2 2-cycles?

if you mean a edge 2-cycle + corner 2-cycle, like a Tperm on a 3x3 cube, those cases are imossible to get on a megaminx.

 

[y235]

if you mean a edge 2-cycle + corner 2-cycle, like a Tperm on a 3x3 cube, those cases are imossible to get on a megaminx.

why?

 

[mr. giggums]

why?

When you make a single turn on the megaminx it cycles a 5-cycle of edges and a 5-cycle of corners. What this means is that the parity for both edges and corners will always be even making it impossible to get 2 2-cycles of both corners and edges because then the parity would be odd.

 

[Anthony]

Awesome 4x4 results:

1 Hao-Zheng Lin: 44.28
2 Han-Cyun Chen: 44.32
3 Cornelius Dieckmann: 44.54
4 Yu Nakajima: 44.77
5 Jr-Wei Jang: 47.14
6 Kuo-Hao Wu: 47.18

And they all had a 40.xx single or better.

 

[IAssemble]

Well that was a waste of time. I would have been a lot more impressed if they had replaced the 20 seconds of random editing with an actual realtime solve. Why bother producing a video like that when the vast majority of people don't have the time and money to fly to some random conference to see the thing in person?

For those of you who won't be able to attend ARM TechCon to see this live, here's a full solve - enjoy!

 

[Kirjava]

ok, that's scary fast

ever thought of getting a better turning cube?

then again, maybe you don't need one

 

[Escher]

For those of you who won't be able to attend ARM TechCon to see this live, here's a full solve - enjoy!

WTF

 

[IAssemble]

ok, that's scary fast

ever thought of getting a better turning cube?

then again, maybe you don't need one

Thanks!

Actually there's a fine balance.... if the cube is too slick, the middle tends to slice when the cube is tilted because of the acceleration involved!

 

[Godmil]

Woah! That's scary fast. Well done! btw, what kinda ARM is in that phone? Does it come up with the complete solution before it starts or is it predicting and optimising as it goes?

 

[IAssemble]

Woah! That's scary fast. Well done! btw, what kinda ARM is in that phone? Does it come up with the complete solution before it starts or is it predicting and optimising as it goes?

Thanks

It is a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 running at 1.2GHz.

The software finds several complete solutions and picks the best in typically 50 to 200ms before it starts the mechanical solve. I have tried the idea of "optimising as it goes" in the past but once the first move or two are committed it is extremely unlikely to find a better solution.

 

[Godmil]

50-200ms? That's amazing. So what kinda move count does it usually come up with.