Rubik's Cube Books

They call it “speedcubing”—a mind-bending blur of quick twists and turns that solves Rubik’s Cube in times that have been clocked at less than 20 seconds! Today, thanks to the 2003 revival of the Rubik’s World Championships, speedcubing is spreading like wildfire. Here, complete with detailed illustrations and basic as well as advanced solving techniques, is the ultimate speedcuber’s guide. It not only gives the solution to the familiar 3x3x3 cube (which has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000—that’s 43 quintillion—possible positions), but also the 2x2x2, 4x4x4, and staggeringly difficult 5x5x5 puzzles. With millions of cubes out there and countless would-be champions looking for tips to improve their times, this is the definitive manual for this unique sport.

It may look like one, but the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT set is not a toy.

Whether you've been building with the original LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT set for years or you just picked up a 2.0 set, you'll love this book.

LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Thinking Robots will show you how to build and program two robots that think. You'll be awestruck when the TTT Tickler ties you at tic-tac-toe and amazed when the One-Armed Wonder solves a Rubik's Cube® in just a few minutes.

These robots aren't child's play. The models are challenging, and you'll have to do a bit of thinking yourself to get them to work. But once you get the hang of it, your efforts will be amply rewarded.

In addition to providing detailed instructions for building each model with either the original or the NXT 2.0 set, author Daniele Benedettelli takes you inside the robots to show you how they're designed, what makes them think, and how to use them. You'll learn how to:

• Control and calibrate your robots for best performance
• Dig into tic-tac-toe strategy to see how the TTT Tickler always plays to win
• Use the CubeSolver program to solve a Rubik's Cube with the One-Armed Wonder
• Better understand artificial intelligence as it relates to robotics, problem solving, and gaming

And for you serious MINDSTORMS builders, all of the source code for programming the robots is available online. Not only will you get to see how the robots are programmed, but you can hack the code to make them act differently, too. You can find all of the source code at https://robotics.benedettelli.com/​TRbook.htm.

So go ahead, put on your thinking cap and get building!

Requirements: A computer running Microsoft Windows 2000 or higher, one complete LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT or NXT 2.0 set, a webcam, some marbles, a couple of rubber bands, and an Internet connection (to download the programs).