Robot solves Rubik's cube in 3.253 seconds

BIRMINGHAM, England, March 17 (UPI) -- A robot created by a pair of British engineers broke a world record by solving a Rubik's cube in 3.253 seconds.

David Gilday, a principal engineer at ARM, and Mike Dobson, a security systems engineer for Securi-Plex, said they spent 18 months building the CubeStormer 3 robot and the device made its debut at the Big Bang Fair at the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham, England, the Birmingham Mail reported Monday.

The robot was able to beat the record of 5.27 seconds set by the duo's previous robot, CubeStormer II, two years ago.

"The record-breaking attempt is a bit of fun for us," Gilday said. "Our real focus is to demonstrate what can be achieved with readily available technology to inspire young minds into taking a greater interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. There is now potential for robots to cope with disruption."

"Our big challenge now is working out if it's possible to make it go even faster," he said.