The Cooper Cube
Breaking the Internet
Vision
Design and Manufacturing
Rollout
Vision
The Cooper Cube project began in Professor Eric Lima’s Principles of Design class as a project to “break the internet” — our challenge to push our limits and empower the community — and we decided we would do this by crushing the record for the world’s largest functioning Rubik’s Cube. Under the leadership of head engineers Chris Mignano and Michael Chan, and with the incredible guidance and engineering of Dr. Eric Lima and Mr. Brian Yudin, the Cooper Cube team of engineering students has made this dream a reality. Our aspiration with building the cube was to create something that honored the expectations of what Cooper Union students are capable of.
A monument that would not only stake our claim as student leaders in the community but that would also serve to broadcast the message of how amazing Cooper is. The current record stands at 5’6”x5’6”, and our planned design is set to beat the record by an incredible margin: standing 10’ tall with 6’x6’ faces. The Cooper Cube, like those before it, will become an international spectacle, putting us at the forefront of the educational world. The cube exists as proof that at Cooper, a student is limited only by their imagination, that no goal is out of reach with hard work and dedication, and that no one is ever too young to do meaningful work.
Design and Manufacturing
The design process began as early as spring 2018 with considerations ranging from a perfect large scale model of the traditional Rubik's cube to a suspended model with rotation reliant upon outer mechanisms.
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Ultimately, under the guiding hand and incredible design work of Mr. Brian Yudin, the final design centered around an internal mechanism and three main axes of rotation was finalized, and production began in the summer of 2018.
The manufacturing process is ongoing as we finalize all components for safety and smooth, prolonged operation of the cube. From the very beginning of the project, the project has demanded the knowledge of all Cooper has to offer. As such, I have learned to operate our mill, lathe, laser & plasma cutters, woodworking tools & machines, TIG welder, CAD programs and more. Additionally, I learned to manufacture composite parts, assemble large mechanisms, and produce consistent products that work together smoothly, as the design requires.
Rollout
We intend to shock the world with our rollout, and we could use all the help we can get. We want the entire world to know what college students are capable of so long as we put our minds to it.
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Our hope from the beginning has been to break the internet, get our names in the Guinness Book of World Records, and have our monument stand testament to the abilities of a Cooper Union Student.
Rollout will be during the Spring 2020 semester where we plan to proudly erect the cube beside the Alamo Cube for the world to see. We also plan to display the project at the end of year show, and use it as a collaborative platform for future work. There will be more information and several announcements regarding specific dates and times, so stay tuned!
