Steady State Cube puzzle sculpture

This cube really is something quite special.

About a year ago, after seeing the Transformers movie, I was inspired, by the behaviour of the AllSpark cube, to try and design a puzzle that could expand equally in all directions. To make things even harder, I wanted each piece to be locked in place by the preceding move.

After many prototypes I finally succeeded in creating this unique sculpture consisting of six parts.

The first stage in solving the puzzle involves discovering how the pieces fit together in the expanded configuration. (One of these moves includes a rotation, which makes it much harder to crack by computer!)

The second stage is to collapse the expanded cube down to the smaller cube by pressing each of the faces in the correct sequence.

The name of the puzzle comes from a (now obsolete) alternative to the Big Bang Theory proposed by Fred Hoyle. I like the fact that from its expanded, steady state the cube can either collapse inwards or explode outwards.

You can buy this cube at http://www.shapeways.com/model/23695/steady_state_cube__2_4cm_.html
and
http://www.shapeways.com/model/119745/steady-state-12mm.html

© Richard Gain 2008

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• puzzle
• cube
• 3d
• printing
• steady
• state
• shapeways
• microcubology

[microcubology]

Thanks for letting me know. Shapeways just did a major site upgrade and messed up the settings for a lot of the older models. I have fixed it now so it is available again.

[christianjmoss]

cool vid but the site says not for sale :(

[Upquark2]

Nice vid.