CubeSim

Overview

A simple Rubik's Cube simulator and solver built in Python with Pygame for visual rendering and controls.

Features

• Two-dimensional visualisation of a 3x3 Rubik's cube
• Keyboard controls for face turns and rotations.
• Generation of animated solutions based on the layer-by-layer method.

Picture of Program

Quick Start

To work on or run this project, start by creating a virtual environment:

$ virtualenv venv

Activate the virtual environment by running:

$ source venv/bin/activate

Install the dependencies inside the virtual environment

$ pip install -r requirements.txt

Launch the main graphical user interface

$ python3 -m src.main

Project Structure

src/cube

This folder contains the majority of the core logic for representing the Cube and the solver.

• gui.py - The Gui class which acts as the interface between the Cube class and Pygame.
• cube.py - The Cube class which encapsulates all the main logic for representing a Rubik's Cube.
• history_cube.py - A subclass of Cube that has methods to record all moves applied.
• solver.py - The solving functions that generate solutions given an instance of a Cube.
• move.py - A simple Move dataclass to encapsulate information about specific moves.
• pieces.py - Simple Edge and Corner dataclasses to encapsulate information about pieces.
• colour.py - A simple Colour type definition to wrap around RGB colour tuples.

src/scramble

This folder contains any logic regarding scramble generation and scramble parsing.

• generator.py - A simple scramble generation function that randomly selects moves to produce a scramble.
• parser.py - A set of parsing functions to convert between moves of str type and Move type.

src/stats

This folder contains a set of statistical analysis functions to analyse the solver.

• statistics.py - A simple Statistics class that generates scrambles and solutions while recording movecounts in a spreadsheet.

tests

This folders contains the tests which can be run using python3 -m pytest.

• test_cube.py - A set of tests to ensure data invariants for the cube are maintained and to test the solving functions.

Implementation

Cube

This program uses a relatively simplistic representation of the Rubik's Cube. We simply consider the cube to be an array of 6 2-dimensional arrays, each representing a face of the cube. Each element of these 2-dimensional arrays then represents a sticker on the cube.

A single face turn then can be implemented by:

1. Rotating all elements of the given face by 90 degrees
2. Cycling all the rows/columns that intersect with the given face on all adjacent faces

Solving

The program implements a simplified variant of the LBL beginner's method. This method closely approximates how a normal beginner solver would solve a cube, although without the aid of human intuition. This approach to solving a cube is substantially less move optimal compared to more sophisticated computer-based algorithms, but was chosen due to ease of implementation and relatively low computation cost.