Beijing farmer and his self-designed robots

48-year-old Wu Yulu, who lives in Mawu Village, Kuoxian County, Tongzhou District, Beijing, is a real peasant. However he devotes himself to making robots. When Wu became famous for designing robots, many television stations, newspapers and even some foreign media came to interview him. Wu, who is now a celebrity, is called "robot daddy" by the local people.

"I have liked designing since I was a child. When I was about 12 or 13 years old, I noticed people walking one day and an idea suddenly came into my head: I decided to design something that could walk like a person." Wu said that he had had the idea of designing robots since he was small. The robots he designed were named according to when they were produced, "Wu the first, Wu the second, Wu the third……" and he has just finished designing his 33rd robot.

In Wu Yulu's eyes, his robots are his own children

"Wu the first" was built in 1986, and could only stand. Through constant trial and improvement, "Super Wu the fifth" can offer and light cigarette, pour water and play the fiddle, and therefore is so far the most satisfactory to Wu. Since the creation of "Super Wu the fifth", a succession of businessmen have arrived to ask its price. Finally, he sold the robot for 30,000 yuan. The raw materials used in making robots mostly come from scrap yards. Wu often goes to the nearby scrap yard to get hard-to-find objects. Once, he picked up something with words of "TNT" from the scrap yard. He did not realize what it was and wired it up; as a result it exploded, leaving him covered in blood.

Wu's home has a six-room house and a large yard outside. If people who do not know him pass by his door, they would consider it a repair shop. Drawings, tools and accessories fill every room. Sometimes, when an idea comes into his head at midnight, he will immediately roll out of bed and start work. This, however, made him suffer once. On the evening of June 19, 1999, he forgot to turn off the electricity after working, and as a result a fire started and burned down his house. His wife Dong Shuyan was so angry that she did not want to live with him and planed to leave with their child.

This accident made Wu felt very guilty for his wife and he had to stop designing robots. Six months after the accident, Wu was still considering making robots. Therefore, he told his wife one day, "I want to begin my robot business again and I will make a robot housekeeper to serve you." After hearing that, his wife agreed.