A 1.8-metre-high silver robot, strides its heavy feet along a narrow street, pulling a rickshaw behind it.

"Welcome aboard. My father is called Wu Yulu," announced the robot.

This was not a scene from the movies, such as Bladerunner and I, Robot, but on a bumpy road in Mawu Village in Beijing's Tongzhou District.

Wu Yulu, a 44-year-old farmer from the village, is the inventor and the "father" of the robot. "This is my newest creation," said Wu, while holding a simple steering wheel installed in the rickshaw.

Wu claims to have spent a whole year developing the 150-kilogram robot. Except for motors, all other materials were handmade by Wu, mostly from used goods.

The robot's eyes were made of ping-pong balls and its mouth out of sponges. Fully charged, it can "walk" for six hours, with 30 to 40 steps per minute, 60 centimetres each stride, which is about 2 km/hr. Although it has a simple outer face, the robot includes the most "high-tech" components Wu has ever developed.

Wu told BJW that even though it only took him one year to make the rickshaw-robot, he actually has spent more than 26 years making 25 robots in his spare time.

They include a simple one only able to walk and dance, an intelligent one able to serve tea and light cigarettes, and the fantastic one which behaves like an eight-legged monster.

"I feel all of them are my own sons," Wu said proudly.

With only a primary school education, Wu has not heard of the term "robot" and nor is he up to speed in the latest theories in physics. But "I know electricity can drive motors, and the power can be transferred to the robot's hands and legs with levers and wires," Wu said.

While making robots, Wu has suffered two major disasters one explosion nearly destroyed his two fingers and a fire burnt all his belongings.

But the farmer inventor has not changed his hobby, which has also earned him some cash.

Since early 2000, he has gradually become famous for being a "farmer inventor" to more and more media, including China Central Television (CCTV). After CCTV's report, he was hired by the TV station's science channel as a prop maker, earning more than 3,000 yuan (US$375) a month. Each week he goes to CCTV for new tasks and then returns home to make them.

Even though he had to sell some of his robots to repay the money he borrowed for rebuilding his burnt home, for Wu, robots are not something to just make money from.

"When this rickshaw-driving robot was first made, many villagers came to look out of interests and a restaurant owner wanted to rent it to attract guests," said Wu.

He refused the offer, but took the robot to the restaurant to give a free performance for several hours.

"Next step, I want to invent robots capable of carrying a sedan chair and next, I will make robots of the 12 animals of Chinese horoscope," Wu said, with great passion, of his future robotic offspring.