Robert Russell Burton Jr. (born February 21, 1985) is an American

speedcuber Speedcubing or speedsolving is a competitive mind sport centered around the rapid solving of various combination puzzles. The most prominent puzzle in this category is the 3×3×3 puzzle, commonly known as the Rubik's Cube. Participants in this ...

and competition organizer, best known for his world records in

Rubik's Magic Rubik's Magic, like the Rubik's Cube, is a mechanical puzzle invented by Ernő Rubik and first manufactured by Matchbox in the mid-1980s. The puzzle consists of eight black square tiles (changed to red squares with goldish rings in 1997) arra ...

and Rubik's Master Magic puzzles. He has played a pivotal role in popularizing speedcubing events and organizing competitions through the

World Cube Association The World Cube Association (WCA) is the worldwide non-profit organization that regulates and holds competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as '' twisty puzzles'' (a subcategory of combi ...

(WCA). Burton grew up in

Kearny, New Jersey Kearny ( ) is a town in the western part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and a suburb of Newark. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 41,999, an increase of 1,315 (+3.2%) from the 2010 census cou ...

. He graduated from Kearny High School in 2003. He studied mathematics at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Crew A crew is a body or a group of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchy, hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard. The word has nautical resonances: the ta ...

team and was the president and founder of the Rutgers University Rubik's Cube Club. On March 14, 2015, Bob married Jaclyn Sawler in the Beyond Rubik's Cube exhibit at Liberty Science Center. He currently teaches high school mathematics in New York City.

Rubik's Cube career

3×3×3 cube

Burton began speedsolving the 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube in May 2001. He was first challenged by some of his friends in an informal competition to see who could solve one side the fastest and was consistently the last to finish, so he bought a Rubik's Cube and began to practice with it. He was able to solve the cube in under a minute within a few months using the

layer by layer The Layer by Layer method, also known as the beginners' method, is a method of solving the 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube. Many beginners' methods use this approach, and it also forms the basis of the CFOP speedcubing technique. History The Layer by Laye ...

method. He competed in the 2003 Rubik's World Games Championships.

Rubik's Magic

Burton was one of the pioneers of solving the Rubik's Magic in the United States. After learning how to solve the puzzle, he insisted on it being an official event in competitions. Ian Winokur allowed a Rubik's Magic competition at the Horace Mann Spring 2005 tournament, in which Burton broke the American record for single solve (1.56 seconds) and average of five (1.85 seconds). In his next competition, Burton also insisted on allowing the Rubik's Master Magic to be an event. Tyson Mao agreed, so in the Caltech Summer 2005 competition, Burton set the single solve world record for the Rubik's Magic (1.28 seconds) and the single solve (3.05 seconds) and average of five (3.54 seconds) world records for the Rubik's Master Magic. At the Trumbull Spring 2006 tournament, he also broke the world record for Rubik's Magic average (1.40 seconds). He was the national champion in 2006 for the Rubik's Magic and the Rubik's Master Magic.

Rubik's Clock

At the 2005 Dutch Open Championship, Burton set the American record for the

Rubik's Clock The Rubik's Clock is a mechanical puzzle invented and patented by Christopher C. Wiggs and Christopher J. Taylor. The Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik bought the patent from them to market the product under his name ...

for single solve (24.12 seconds) and mean (32.68 seconds).

Other puzzles

Burton was the national champion at the 2006 US National Championships in San Francisco for the Square-1. He is also credited with creating a method for the Pyraminx, known as the “Bob Burton Method.”

3×3×3 one-handed

Burton also practiced the 3×3×3 one-handed event. He was among the best in the world, placing 5th overall (of 61) in the first round of the 2005 Rubik's Cube World Championship.

3×3×3 blindfolded

In May 2006, Burton successfully solved the Rubik's Cube blindfolded in an official competition at the Trumbull Spring 2006 tournament in a time of 6 minutes 21.87 seconds. He had failed his first ten attempts before that, dating back to May of the previous year. Burton uses the Pochmann method to solve a cube blindfolded, which solves one piece at a time through a series of commutators.

Official competition times

Burton's best official solves:

References

Rutgers Rubik's Cube whiz competes

External links

Burton's Speedcubing Website

Burton's official results

Interview with Burton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Bob 1985 births American speedcubers Living people People from Newark, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni