TWO teenagers are preparing to go into battle with some of the country's most fearsome robots.

While most school pupils are out enjoying the remaining days of their summer holidays, Karl Warren, 13, Andrew Newby, 14 and school technician Andy Bannerman, 37, have been busy adding the final touches to their robotic fighting machine at St John's RC Comprehensive School in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

The trio, called Team Gladiator, need to finish their model, Maximus, before tomorrow, when they will pit it against rivals in the television contest Robot Wars.

Team captain Andy said: "The whole project was mainly their idea. I've been itching to build something for a couple of years. Then we all met up and designed something together. Maximus is the result of that.

"Building the robot is an awful lot more complicated than we thought at first."

The team has a Roman Centurion theme and Maximus boasts a cutting disc and a flip down defence shield.

They may find themselves pitted against Andy's brother-in-law, from Hastings, who helped design robot Gemini.

Andy said: "It's a case of camaraderie behind the scenes, but there will be no punches pulled when it comes to the competition."