This is not a new capability for a robot, but in this case Winfield’s machine simulated the consequences of its own collision- avoidance strategies to make sure they would be safe.

A robotic hand solving Rubik’s cube has all the makings of hype headlines, but underlying OpenAI’s latest achievement is some subtler, more interesting science.

What’s more, the hand could point the way to better designs for robot limbs. Most artificial limbs require complex mechanisms to control all their moving parts, but that might be overkill.

How long the robot hand took to solve the Rubik’s cube depended on how jumbled the cube was, with the best attempt taking around 3 minutes, says Welinder.