Project Conclusion..

This will be the last blog for my passion project "The Rubik's Cube Re-Explored". So to go back in time a bit, my original goals were to improve my average of 12 on a 3x3 Rubik's cube to 15.xx seconds, to become completely colour neutral, and to memorize all of my OLL and PLL algorithms.

I accomplished or almost accomplished all of these goals. I got my average down much lower, but to around the 16.xx range. I memorized ALMOST all of the 57 OLL algorithms and all 21 of the PLL algorithms. I also learned quite a few advanced techniques, most of which I have shared with you on this blog.

I was also reacquainted with the massive online and offline speed cubing community. I'm just realizing this now (after my presentation) but speed cubing relates to the topic of digital dualism which we learned about in my bible class. Digital dualism is the belief that life online and life offline are different separate things. I've discovered that the speed cubing community online and offline are not different things. From what i've experienced online speed cubing community is just a tool to help build relationships or share new discoveries with a larger audience. But the community online is no way separate from  the community offline.

I also had some obstacles along the journey of this project. My main obstacle was time restrictions because I had a very busy schedule for the duration of this project. My solution to this obstacle was to set aside a chunk of time before bed dedicated to practice and that seemed to work really well. Another obstacle I had was forgetting algorithms that I had memorized. I overcame this by repeating an algorithm I had memorized that day several more times before I went to sleep. This seemed to really affirm the algorithms in my mind.

So was my passion project successful? In short; yes. I accomplished or almost accomplished every goal I set out to achieve, I learned a LOT and I really discovered the importance of practice. You're not going to really improve at something without lots of practice!

So to end off I guess I'll just say I'm very pleased with the results of this project and I'm very thankful I got the chance to do it.

Progress Update

Although I have been keeping you all informed of what I'm learning through my practice, I haven't really shared my progress. So in this post I will try and inform you of what I have accomplished thus far.

What I have been doing to for my project is available on my goals page. I have come close to or accomplished these goals which is good because the project is just about over.

I now can get about a 16.xx colour neutral average of 12 which isn't too far off of my original goal of 15.xx seconds.

I have also memorized nearly all of the 57 OLL algorithms which was a lot of work as well as all 21 of the PLL algorithms. I should be able to finish memorizing all of the OLLs very soon.

So overall I feel as though my work thus far has payed off and I have made a lot of progress in speed cubing. I have learned a ton through my practice sessions and through this I have really come to realize that you can't expect to get good at something without a LOT of practice. Practice is so important!

The main obstacle I had to overcome during this project was time restraints as I had been very busy with school and sports. I overcame this obstacle by setting aside a chunk of time before bed as my practice time which seemed to work very well. I also had a problem were sometimes I would forget an algorithm I had memorized because there are so many. I overcame this by memorizing the algorithm during the day and then before bed repeating it several more times. This seemed to make the algorithms I memorized very concrete in my mind.

Dw or d moves in F2L

While in practice, I realized the importance of "Dw" or "d" moves in F2L. Dw and d are the same move, but have different names. Note, a "D" move is different from the moves previously mentioned. The difference can be found on the notation page. Anyways, while in practice I often found my self needing to make a Y rotation and then do a U turn to be able to insert an F2L pair. Well as a speed solver you want to try and make as few Y rotations as possible during a solve. Then I realized that within a d or Dw turn, there is a hidden Y rotation because the middle layer is rotated as well changing the position of the centre pieces. And because the top layer is not rotated along with the middle and bottom, there is also a U rotation made relative to the centre pieces. So basically, a d or Dw turn is basically a Y rotation plus a U rotation. This can be used to substitute for an actual Y and U rotation. This has become incredibly useful during F2L. It allows me to insert pairs that would normally require a slow cumbersome Y rotation very quickly. Here is an example. Normally to solve this case, I would have done a Y rotation, and then a U turn when yellow is in the front.




















Then after i had done the Y rotation and U turn I could insert the red yellow pair with an R U R'. However, as I said before Y rotations should be avoided as they are very slow so the Y rotation and U turn can be replaced by a Dw move. This is a lot quicker and allows you to move into the insertion of the pair much quicker.

This tip won't drop your times drastically, but it does come up often enough to make it a useful thing to know.