"I got a rechargeable battery-like tube for a very low price from a recycling shop, thinking I could save money," Wu said.

    But he did not understand the English warning on the tube, and "when I tested the tube, it exploded in my hands. I remember a big fireball suddenly burst out, and I lost my memory."

    Luckily, neighbours rushed him to hospital. His memory returned, but the scars on his hands and arms and the pain he frequently feels in his wrists will last forever.

    Another fire broke out in 1999 when Wu left a transformer unattended to repair a piece of farm machinery.

    "Just as I was enjoying the praise for my skills in repairing, someone rushed in and said: 'Wu, your home is on fire,'" he recalled.

    It was too late. No one was injured, but all six rooms with his belongings, including some robots, were destroyed.

    "I was left with nothing," Wu said.

    Neighbours, and even strangers, gave him money to rebuild his house, with no mention of repayment. Three months later, Wu was in a new home, costing 90,000 yuan (US$11,250).

    Wu was determined to repay them but his pursuit of building robots did not leave much savings.

    His son Wu Hongfeng said: "With his skills, my father could have become rich by making more profitable tools, but after the fire, the whole family was preoccupied with repaying our debt."

    Wu Yulu eventually decided to sell some of the robots that had been stored elsewhere.

    "I felt terrible, but had no choice," he said.

    An institute affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences bought one of the robots for "several thousand," Wu said, and a collector bought another.

    Wu's perseverance finally began to pay off.

    Feature stories on the "farmer inventor" began appearing in various media.

    After one report on China Central Television (CCTV), its science channel hired Wu as a prop-maker, paying more than 3,000 yuan (US$375) a month.

    Each week he goes to CCTV for orders and makes them at home.

    Selling robot Wu Laowu helped speed the repayment of his loan. "The neighbours would not mention money, but I had to show them some consideration," he said.

    Last month, Wu made the headlines again for a new invention, a robot able to pull a rickshaw one step every three or four seconds.

    Sitting in the rickshaw, Wu said he has no plans to start a robot business.

    "I can invent robots able to carry a sedan chair, and next I will make robots of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac.

    "There are so many good things in life, and they become the basis for my robots."

(Source: China Daily)