A ROBOTIC shopping trolley designed by a primary school boy who wanted to help his tiny gran has been put on public display.

Aidan McCann was just 11 when he dreamed up a push cart with height adjustment features to help his grandmother Lydia, 75.

The schoolboy drew plans for the 'Trolley for the Elderly' to help his 4'11" gran who struggled with shopping because of her age and height.

The trolley lifts and lowers at the flip of a switch, and was designed as part of the Scottish Engineering Leaders Award by the youngster -- then a P7 pupil at Cromarty Primary in Inverness.

But the 14-year-old has now enjoyed a proud moment as his invention has been unveiled for all to see at Glasgow Science Centre's yesterday.

Aidan, who now attends Fortrose Academy, saw his plans brought to life by engineering students at the University of Strathclyde.

Dr Susan Scurlock, chief exec of Primary Engineer, said: "The competition shows us the huge potential in young people to identify and solve problems in the world.

"What is wonderful is that now Aidan's invention will go on to inspire future inventors, entrepreneurs and engineers visiting the Science Centre."

Aidan's Trolley now joins a long and illustrious list of Scottish inventions.

The youngster witnessed how his pint-sized gran struggled to carry groceries from the shops and perform other physically demanding tasks due to her height.

Aidan said: "When my gran saw it, she really loved it. It was designed for her.

"When I saw the working trolley for the first time I was amazed. It's an amazing piece of engineering and it was amazing to see it come to life.

"I'd love to be an engineer now."

The schoolboy submitted his idea to the national inventor competition while he was in primary school.

The Trolley has sparked huge interest in the competition this year, with nearly 12,000 entries from primary and secondary pupils in Scotland last year.

Dr Andrew McLaren, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Strathclyde, said: "The UK is currently estimated to be short of around 20,000 graduate engineers annually which creates a significant skills gap in the sector and a challenging future.

"The work of Primary Engineer is exactly the type of programme to help ignite a passion for engineering in young people, and will go a long way to inspiring future generations of inventors for our sector.

"Aidan's trolley invention showed creativity, and ingenuity - two of the most important traits in an engineer's inventory.

"He has identified a specific challenge, and proposed an innovative solution that really catches the imagination of the public."