A school trip to build and race robot mice at the University of Wales, Newport kindled such a keen interest in robotics that a Newport man is now back at the university studying the subject at degree level.

Peter Shepherd was a 15-year-old pupil at Bettws High School when he came to the university's School of Computing and Engineering to take part in the Micromouse challenge in 1999 - and he has been interested in creating robots ever since.

"We were one of many local schools who spent a day in the university's workshops building our own mini-robots," said 20-year-old Peter.

"It was really exciting, and I was fascinated by the idea of designing and making robotic devices.

"I wanted to come here because the university has always had really strong links with all the local schools - we'd been coming here for various events since Year 7. It's a very friendly, welcoming place and we felt at home here."

"It makes me feel really good to see students like Peter who came here as visitors and are now studying with us," said Alan Hayes, Dean of the School of Computing and Engineering.

"This year we start a new Ant Wars event, which will involve local schoolchildren building robots that battle it out like in TV's popular Robot Wars programme.

"We are also introducing a series of exciting new courses in September - including Computer Games Development and Internet and Multimedia Technology - which have been gaining a great deal of interest."

For information about any of the courses at the School of Computing and Engineering, contact the University Information Centre on 01633 432432.