A robot army descended on Middlesex University to battle it out for the top prize in a national amateur robotics competition.

Design engineering students and tutors at the Hendon-based university took part in the Eurobot competition, which pits robots designed, built and programmed by students from across the UK against each other in a series of challenges.

Middlesex student Meliha Beglerovic said: "This is good way for us to learn how to programme and build designs, learn the mechanics of everything and power transmissions.

“It's a very sociable event as you meet other people who all want to know what your robot can do."

The students competed against the University of Southampton as well as contestants from as far as Germany and Tunisia.

This year's competition took on a historic theme, with tasks ranging from collecting fruit from trees, catching mammoths with nets and building fires.

German team RCA won the competition, while the University of Southampton took second and third place.

Michael Heeney, technical tutor for Middlesex’s design and engineering course, said: “Sadly, we didn't win as competition was fierce.

“Building and designing a robot to take on such a wide and varied range of tasks is no mean feat. Our students did well considering and we're looking forward to the next challenge."

The top three UK teams will now go head-to-head with others from across Europe in the finals which will be held in Germany this June.