Life-saving robots, designed to seek out threats to British soldiers in war zones, have been unveiled by a team of Bedfordshire scientists and engineers.

Experts from Cranfield University, Blue Bear Systems Research Ltd in Bedford and SELEX Galileo in Luton, have spent the last 12 months designing and testing three autonomous robots which can seek out roadside bombs, find marksmen from a window and seek armed military personnel and vehicles with a rocket launcher.

Dr Toby Breckon, a lecturer in computer vision and image processing at Cranfield University, said: "It is crucial that safer and more effective ways of identifying dangerous urban environments are developed to aid troops.

"Innovative robotic technology, such as what we have developed for this competition, is key to real-time threat identification and the future of UK defence."

The trio of Bedfordshire firms, together with three other research and development companies, have built a high-level unmanned air vehicle, a low-level unmanned ground vehicle and an unmanned ground vehicle.

Programmed with optical, radar and thermal imagery equipment, the robots are currently being tested at a Ministry of Defence (MoD) training facility in Wiltshire against ten other designs.

Dr Breckon added: "I hope that by fusing knowledge and technologies from both academia and business we will not only win but provide innovative solutions to real-life challenges."

The winners of the two- week challenge may then receive funding from the MoD to develop the technology for use by the armed forces.