Engineer Develops Autonomous Robot That Assembles Puzzles Independently
On the YouTube channel Stuff Made Here, engineer Shane Wighton reveals his latest innovation: a fully autonomous robot capable of assembling puzzles on its own.
Why not automate even our leisure activities?
On the Stuff Made Here YouTube channel, engineer Shane Wighton unveiled his newest creation: a robot that autonomously assembles puzzles from start to finish. Shane simply places the puzzle pieces on the table, and the robot sorts and arranges them row by row in the correct order.
Since computers lack eyes, each puzzle piece is photographed by a specialized camera simulating an infinite distance shot. Coupled with backlighting, this setup ensures the computer doesn't mistakenly interpret the side edges as part of the piece's shape, preventing calculation errors.
To assemble the puzzle, Shane engineered a custom table where a robotic arm moves on a chassis. On the side, there's a "storage" area for sorted pieces, resembling the pockets on a billiards table. This design keeps scanned pieces off the main table surface.
Once all pieces are sorted, the contents of the storage compartments are reassembled in the correct sequence, allowing the robot to elegantly place each piece one by one in neat lines. So far, after three weeks of development, Shane has successfully programmed the system to assemble small 3 × 3 puzzles.
This is just the beginning: Shane plans to tackle a 5,000-piece puzzle painted entirely white and challenge the robot to assemble it. While a human would take several years to complete such a task, the robot aims to do it much faster. However, this will require an extremely powerful computer or a novel approach to solving the puzzle algorithmically.
Shane has promised to share his solution in a follow-up video—if everything goes as planned and it is eventually released.
Previously, Shane showcased other remarkable engineering feats, including a bow that always hits the target and a basketball hoop that automatically catches the ball.
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