CHILDREN have been asked to design a “pedal powered” invention that will be unveiled in Bradford next month.

The contraption will be one of the many attractions at the Bradford Science Festival, which is being held in the city centre on July 15 - 16.

The contest is being run by Kids Invent Stuff, a Youtube channel run by inventors Ruth Amos and Shawn Brown.

Every month the pair ask children aged 5-11 to submit designs for their own invention based on a different theme. Among the winning inventions produced in the past have been a piano that shoots fire and water depending on which keys are played, shoes that help you walk on water, and a “helpful robot.”

They document the creation of the winning design, and upload videos of the finished product to the channel.

Their next competition ties in with the two day festival, which has been organised by the National Science and Media Museum.

Young people have been asked to design an invention that uses pedal power, although wheat they harness it for is completely up to them.

Miss Amos, who invented the StairSteady, which helps people with limited mobility to use their stairs, when she was just 16, said: “We’ve had children invent things like a crime fighting gadget, and for the science festival we are asking children to come up with a pedal powered contraption.

“We decided to do that because of the links between cycling and Yorkshire.

“They can get creative, they just need to tell us what they want to see built and we’ll build it and bring it to the science festival.

“Most of the time we get kids sending in a video to us explaining their ideas.

“It is great hearing from children - a lot of the time they come up with ideas that adults would dismiss straight away as never working. But when you start building them they actually do work.”

The finished piece will be on display in City Park as part of the festival, and organisers say that with the festival taking place in Bradford, it would be ideal if a local child won the contest.

Children will be able to upload their invention ideas on the website kidsinventstuff.com until June 28.

The first of a series of annual science festivals in the city was held in 2012, however there was no science festival last year after the previous organisers no longer had the capacity to carry it on.

This year’s festival will be a partnership between the museum and organisations including the University of Bradford, Bradford Council and Bradford College.

The full line up for the festival will be announced later this month.