A GROUP of former Preston College students have braved clanging metal and burning flames to take part in the Robotwars television show.

The four who make up 'Team Colossus' designed and built their own robot and battled through a tough application process.

Bob Kenyon, 35, from Ashton; Ian Wilson, 39, from Leyland; Deepdale's Chris Hatton, 24; and Stephen Bennett, 20, from Morecambe, studied on the part-time HNC course in mechanical and production engineering.

They worked for more than 300 hours on their robot, Colossus, which cost £6,000 and took 18 months to build and was funded partly by the team and partly by local sponsors.

Bob said: "We wanted a challenging project but when we decided to build a robot to enter Robotwars 6 we had no idea the scale of the task on which we were embarking.

"Needless to say we were thrilled beyond belief when we qualified for the show as this proved all the work was worthwhile."

Viewers will see Colossus pitted against other robots in a battle to the death -- or scrap heap!

But it is in with a fighting chance. Colossus weighs around 16 stones, and is powered by two electric motors.

And the robot is armed to the teeth, with a spectacular pneumatic flipper that can throw a car tyre 10ft in the air, and a diamond tipped cutting disc.