A PAIR of tech-heads from Hereford can be seen competing in the new series of BBC2's Robot Wars this week.

It took six months for Marlon Pritchard and Simon Baldwin, engineers from Hereford, to rebuild their robot, called X-Terminator.

X-Terminator is a veteran of the TV show in which armed robots fight to the "death" in an arena. They have appeared in three previous series and last year came 14th overall.

The show in which it features airs on Friday, on BBC2, and is part of the fifth series of the programme.

This year X-Terminator underwent some important changes under the bonnet.

"The chassis looks very similar - it looks like a tank with an axe weapon on the top, a bucket on the front and a self-righting mechanism on the side," said Mr Pritchard, of Team X-Terminator."

However the big change came when the weight limit was increased by 20kg, allowing robots to weigh up to 100kg.

"Before, the axe mechanism had been a bit pathetic so we made it much more powerful," said Mr Pritchard.

The axe, like the self-righting mechanism, is powered by a CO2 cylinder

The robot is powered by two 1hp Bosch motors and can reach 18mph.

"However, the extra weight made X-Terminator less manoeuvrable," said Mr Pritchard.

To keep the robot underweight they had to use lighter, but less powerful batteries. But that was just the start of

X-Terminator's problems.

In the first round the forward drivers failed so it could only go in reverse. In the second round the robot suffered battery failure and became a sitting duck, eventually losing on judges' points.

"We could move round a little bit but it was very sluggish," said Mr Pritchard.

But Mr Pritchard said on the upside he did get to meet hosts Craig Charles and Philippa Forrester.

Far from being put off, Mr Pritchard has promised the team will be back for series six.

In the meantime, fans can take control of X-Terminator at the team's website at www.xterminator.co.uk.