Harpenden: A Harpenden schoolboy who demonstrated his swimming robot crocodile in Birmingham last weekend has learned he has qualified for the televised national final.
Matthew Crooks, ten, of The Cleve, will pit Crocotron against swimming robots from across Britain in the Bbc Technogames at Shepperton, Surrey, on Sunday, December 18 - a competition which will be broadcast on television in the spring.
Matthew's mother, Mrs Pamela Crooks, said: "We are really excited to get through. Crocotron is having some major surgery at the moment to improve it."
The pupil of High Beeches school showed judges how his radio-controlled crocodile could swim one metre, turn round and swim back in a trial in an open-air pool on Saturday, November 24, but he had to wait until Friday to learn he had qualified.
Judges checked that the mechanical reptile worked with a proper animal swimming action, without the aid of propellers or model boat parts.
Matthew built the model out of balsa wood and plastic over four months, receiving help with the radio-controlled parts from his father, Mr Andrew Crooks, 44, and grandfather, Mr Bill Ambridge, 80.
December 4, 2001 18:11
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