Ian and Joe Watts hope to become TV's best-known family of scrap metal merchants since Steptoe and Son.

They start filming tomorrow for the next series of the BBC programme Robot Wars.

Ian, 40, an electronic engineer, has designed ten-stone monster called Bigger Brother, whose movements he controls by radio.

While he does this, son Joe, seven, has the fun task of flipping up the other robots as he tries to wreak maximum destruction.

Joe, of Madehurst Close, Brighton, said: "It's really fun and it's always good to see new robots to fight against. The flipper we have on it is working well and I think we can do well."

Last year the Watts entered Robot Wars, hosted by comedian Craig Charles, for the first time.

Unexpectedly they reached the quarter finals with Big Brother.

Bigger Brother, as the name suggests, is even meaner and the new robot has been seeded 15th for this year's tournament.

Joe, a pupil at St John the Baptist School, Brighton, said: "I think we can go as far, if not further, than we did last year."

His mother Cath added: "Joe thinks he's going to be a star when he's on TV. The robot fighting gets quite aggressive.

"Joe did some interesting sketches of what he wanted the entry to be like and his dad turned them into proper designs."

In the show, two competitor robots slug it out while several "house" models chip in. To prepare, Ian and Joe have taken Bigger Brother around the nearby streets and flipped up large pieces of metal.

Cath said: "People wonder what's going on sometimes because it's quite a sight. The robots are a lot bigger than people imagine.

"It's not really violent and it's a lot of fun to take part in. They are both looking forward to it."

Robot Wars will be shown on BBC2 in the autumn.