Rubik’s Cube is a 3-D combination puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. It is
considered to be the world’s best-selling toy with over 350 million cubes being sold. There are over 45+ quintillion possible combinations of the colors of the faces with only 1 correct solution. I got a Rubik’s cube when I was in 5th grade when it was all the rage. Forty years later, it’s retro cool with a new traveling 7,000 square foot museum tour starting in New Jersey.
When presented with a challenging puzzle like Rubik’s cube you have several options on how you might go about solving it:
1. Give up. – A lot of people have no patience for this.
2. Cheat. – Peel the stickers off or break the cub apart and put it back together correctly.
3. Use trial and error. – Just go at it. Guess and figure it out over time.
4. Research – Get a book/video tutorial and learn how to do it the right way. Here’s one possible way to solve it…and your own virtual Rubik’s Cube.
But there is one other important way…
5. Automate – Build technology to solve it.
On March 15, 2014, at the Big Bang fair in Birmingham, England, the CubeStormer III robot made with Lego parts and a Samsung Galaxy S4 solved the Rubik’s cube for the fastest time ever of 3.25 seconds. This is 2 seconds faster than the human champ Mats Valk of the Netherlands who solved the cube in 5.55 seconds in 2013. This robot was created by inventors David Gilday and Mike Dobson who perfected it over a period of 18 months.
At a high level, this is how it worked:
1. Sensors record and analyze the cube positions.
2. The computer determines the moves required to solve the puzzle.
3. Precision robotic arms executes the planned moves quickly and accurately.
And now for the analogy…
The problem: Your business information is like the Rubik’s cube. It’s unorganized and you can’t find what you need when you want it. You can’t effectively share the right information, data needs to be entered multiple times, and many manual processes cause inefficiencies that cost you profit. It is a big information technology puzzle that needs a solution. In some cases, the situation is even more complex than the original cube…the 4×4 or 5×5 cubes?
Ultimately, which process is the best way to solve your business information puzzle?
1. Giving up? – This is usually not really an option unless you want to go out of business.
2. Cheating? – Maybe for a while you can just ignore issues but eventually you’ll get caught or it won’t work anymore.
Most companies are smart enough to skip options 1 and 2.
3. Trial and error? – Continuing to guess at the right result is expensive. You are likely leaving
4. Research? Can you learn enough from a book to do it yourself? Can you be an expert at everything or do you have a specific area where you excel…your sweet spot?
Some companies choose options 3 or 4. They want to be do-it-yourselfers. In this case, LuminFire can provide training and coaching to help guide development and making better choices early on before too much time is invested. But often the work turns out to be frustrating in the end…and they just want someone else to do it for them and get it done right or simply to take the solution to the next level.
5. Automate? Should you hire the experience, get the job done right, and in a reasonable amount of time under budget?
Businesses that want to be the most effective, productive, and profitable usually come to the conclusion that #5 is the best fit. At LuminFire, we’re the kind of people that “build the robot”. We create the technology solution in the form of a custom application (using FileMaker, WordPress, or other best of breed tools) to fix your business information issues.
We recently built our own Lego robot that solves the cube…
Our development process leads you through the steps to determine what your needs are and then move on to the best technology solution available. We are trusted technology partners to all kinds of business. To get started with your project, connect with us through our request form.
Tim Cimbura – CEO and Software Engineer
Tim is an expert in creating custom business solutions that make businesses more effective, productive, and profitable. He specializes in rapid application development with the Claris platform including FileMaker and WordPress. He also knows Apple macOS technology inside and out.