He may have a tin head, cardboard legs and light bulbs for eyes - but Billy the Cook could be the gadget of the future, according to one child inventor.

Robert Unsworth, 13, of Thornton, Lancashire, designed his robotic chef as part of a competition to come up with "cracking ideas".

And, according to the 85,000 youngsters who took part, Britain in 2020 will be a world of time machines, automatic gardens and hover boards.

Robert said his robotic chef, complete with feet made of recycled tin cans and arms composed of disposable stacking cups, would prepare any dish on demand.

His pencil drawn sketch, coloured orange, grey and blue, promised that "Billy will cook anything that you want".

The ideas were submitted to the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) by the youngsters, who had visited the Wallace & Gromit "A World of Cracking Ideas" exhibition at the Science Museum in London.

Lawrence Smith-Higgins, of the IPO, said: "We've been so impressed with the high standard of entries that we have decided to put a selection of the best ideas in a time capsule which we'll bury.

"In 2020, we'll dig up the time capsule to see how the cracking ideas shape up in a world that's sure to be different from today.

"Maybe one of the great innovators of the future is among these 85,000 entries."