ROBOTS from West Linton have yet again been in the wars at the Scottish Robotic Games.

And they have also returned with silverware.

For the second year running, four primary pupils from the West Linton Socialize Technology Club - Malcolm Rodwell, Olivia Thornburrow, Rebecca Moroney and Logan Mackay - entered two robots into the championships held in Edinburgh.

Organised by the Rampaging Chariots Guild, the Scottish Robotic Games, now in their 13th year, attracted entries from across the country.

A total of 63 robots revved up for the day's battles and challenges.

Following their successful debut at last year’s event, the West Linton pupils had spent much of the year improving the design of the robots and using their woodworking, metal working and 3D printing skills to manufacture new parts.

And their robots were named and suitably decorated as Ham - from the name of the first chimpanzee launched into space - and Vulcan - after the iconic RAF bomber.

Ham’s superior four-wheel drive performance overcame every other robot in the tug of war competition to enable Socialize to take the trophy for the second year.

Ian Rodwell from West Linton Socialize Technology Club told us: "The final was a nail biter against another four-wheel drive robot with massive rubber tank tracks called Tiny Tim.

"Tiny Tim comfortably took the first of the three round final.

"Whether this was a deliberate act by the Socialize team to lull the opposition into a false sense of security, or a result of the operator forgetting to check that the remote control was switched on – we shall never know.

"After a change of ends, Ham took the second round. Tiny Tim’s team won the toss for the choice of end for the final round and they elected to return to their winning end. This time, the result was completely different, with Ham comfortably pulling Tiny Tim off the edge."

The West Linton team’s second robot, Vulcan, didn’t quite perform as well as expected in the Sumo wrestling competition as a last minute technical hitch affected the steering.

However, the team were still awarded the trophy for the best engineering design from Air Marshal Julian Young - the chief engineer of the RAF.

Ian added: "The team would like to extend their thanks to Leonardo for hosting the games and to the Rampaging Chariots guild for continuing to promote and run the games and getting pupils engaged in STEM."